Assessing health care organizations' ability to implement screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment

: To determine if a new measure of organizational readiness for change reflects site and staff role differences when implementing a screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) program for alcohol and drug misuse in a healthcare organization.

: One hundred forty-one Community Health Program (CHP) and 45 Emergency Center (EC) respondents completed the survey.

: Medical and ancillary staff from a Level 1 trauma hospital EC and 3 CHP clinics within a large, urban, publicly funded health-care system were asked to complete the 45-item Medical Organizational Readiness for Change (MORC) survey 5 to 7 months after the start of implementation planning. One-way ANOVAs compared the 4 sites' responses and independent t tests compared the clinical versus administrative staff responses on 8 MORC scales.

: There were statistically significant differences between the EC and CHP sites on Need for External Guidance, Pressure to Change, Organizational Readiness to Change, Workgroup Functioning, Work Environment, and Autonomy Support. Clinical and administrative staff differed significantly on Need for External Guidance, Pressure to Change, and Organizational Readiness to Change. When change agents used the MORC data to inform their implementation process, the results were positive.

: Among CHP sites, there were differences in organizational functioning, which were consistent with CHP implementation outcomes. The MORC scales can help planners and change agents understand their organization's current readiness to integrate screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment services into their medical setting.