Ontario Health (Quality)’s Problematic Alcohol Use and Alcohol Use Disorder Quality Standard provides guidance on the care for people 15 years of age and older with problematic alcohol use or alcohol use disorder. The quality standard applies to all services and care settings and covers screening and assessment of problematic alcohol use and the diagnosis, management, and treatment of alcohol use disorder.
The quality standard includes 10 quality statements addressing areas that have high potential for improving the quality of care in Ontario for people with problematic alcohol use and alcohol use disorder.
Below is a sample of tools that may help you with the implementation of the quality statements into practice, organized according to purpose. Many of these tools will help to support multiple quality statements.
This list is not exhaustive. Are there other tools or resources you use? Do you have experience implementing these tools? If so, please use the comments section below to share!
Comprehensive Resources
Tools to Support Clinical Practice
The following tools and/or resources can support Quality Statement 1: Screening, and Quality Statement 2: Brief Intervention in the Problematic Alcohol Use and Alcohol Use Disorder quality standard:
The following resources and tools can support Quality Statement 5: Treatment of Alcohol Withdrawal Symptoms in this quality standard.
- Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol, Revised (CIWA-Ar) Scale—a test that can be used in the emergency department to assess alcohol withdrawal (5 minutes), provided by the Mentoring, Education, and Clinical Tools for Addiction: Primary Care-Hospital Integration (META:PHI) team at Women’s College Hospital
- Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS)—an academic journal article in Alcohol regarding the Prediction and Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS), which is used to identify risk of severe alcohol withdrawal syndromes
- Provider Tools—point-of-care tools, guides, pocket cards and pre-printed orders that can be adapted for use on emergency department Electronic Medical Records (EMRs), compiled by the Mentoring, Education, and Clinical Tools for Addiction: Primary Care-Hospital Integration (META:PHI) team at Women’s College Hospital
- Sweating, Hallucination, Orientation, Tremor (SHOT) Scale—a short scale for measuring the severity of alcohol withdrawal in patients in the emergency department
Educational Opportunities for Health Care Professionals
- Addiction management e-modules from the META:PHI team at Women’s College Hospital for:
- Managing Alcohol Problems—a self-directed, 5-week online course that outlines the use of pharmacotherapies and psychosocial treatments, offered by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
- Medical Mentoring for Addictions and Pain (MMAP)—a network to support family physicians in the care of patients with addictions and/or chronic pain, from the Ontario College of Family Physicians
- Rapid Access Addiction Medicine Clinics—a map of the rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinic where patients can get help for a substance use disorder without an appointment or formal referral
- Project ECHO Ontario Mental Health—weekly continuing medical education–accredited videoconferencing sessions to build capacity in the treatment and management of mental health and addictions
- Addiction Care is Primary Care—a reference card for the management of alcohol use disorder in primary care, published by Families for Addiction Recovery and endorsed by the College of Family Physicians of Canada
- Serving Clients Who Use Substances: A Guide for Community Workers—a resource for community-based professionals that also includes a list of residential addiction treatment programs in Ontario, from the META:PHI team at Women’s College Hospital
- Trauma Informed Care Project—resources and learning modules to support patient-centred care, developed by Alberta Health Services
- Trauma-Informed Practice Guide—a resource to support putting trauma-informed principles into practice, developed by the BC Provincial Mental Health and Substance Use Planning Council
- Traumatology Institute—an organization that offers comprehensive online trauma training and certification programs, effective and practical tools, informative resources, and training opportunities
Resources for Patients and Families
The following resources can support Quality Statement 6: Information and Education and Quality Statement 7: Psychological and Social Interventions in this quality standard.
- Check Your Drinking—an anonymous online survey that allows people to look at their drinking in various ways, and provides information about the physical and psychosocial effects of alcohol and how to reduce the risk of alcohol-related problems, from Evolution Health
- Saying When: How to Quit Drinking or Cut Down—a mobile app developed by Centre for Addiction and Mental Health to help users track and manage their alcohol consumption habits
- Thinking About Drinking—an information sheet from Centre for Addiction and Mental Health that contains a simple test allowing users to compare their drinking habits against that of other Canadians
Access to Local Programs and Supports
- ConnexOntario—a 24-hour service funded by the Government of Ontario that provides free and confidential support for people experiencing problems with alcohol and drugs, mental illness and/or gambling
- Rapid Access Addiction Medicine Clinics—a map of the rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinic where patients can get help for a substance use disorder without an appointment or formal referral
- Regional Resources and Programs Directory—a directory of programs and resources that can support the treatment and management of substance use by region, hosted by the Centre for Effective Practice
- Mental health, wellness and addictions support – provides information about provincial programs and supports for mental health and addiction needs, including peer support, telephone or online resources, and services for children and youth
Other Resources
- Quality Standards—other quality standards from the Quality business unit of Ontario Health (formerly Health Quality Ontario) may also be useful, including:
Comment below to describe your experience with these tools or share any others you have found useful!