A verbal prescreen for intrusive symptoms improves posttraumatic stress disorder screening efficiency

Area of Science:

• Trauma Care
• Mental Health Screening
• Psychological Assessment

Background:

• Trauma centers require mental health risk identification protocols.
• The American College of Surgeons lacks specific screening tool recommendations.
• The Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) is a common screening instrument.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic performance of a two-question verbal prescreen for PTSD.
• To assess the prescreen's efficiency compared to the full PCL-5.
• To determine if the prescreen can reduce the number of PCL-5 administrations.

Main Methods:

• Traumatically injured patients underwent a verbal prescreen based on PCL-5 questions 1-2.
• The PCL-5 served as the gold standard for comparison.
• Prescreen performance was analyzed against PCL-5 results at various thresholds.

Main Results:

• A total of 268 patients completed both the prescreen and PCL-5.
• 36.6% of patients screened positive on the verbal prescreen.
• The prescreen demonstrated 100% sensitivity and 69% specificity for PTSD at a PCL-5 threshold of 30 points.

Conclusions:

• A verbal PTSD prescreen is highly sensitive for identifying at-risk patients.
• This prescreen significantly reduces the need for full PCL-5 administration.
• The method enhances screening efficiency in trauma settings without additional resources.