Clinical tools

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Alcohol

A tool developed by the Addiction Shared Care Program at St. Joseph's Health Centre, Toronto, to facilitate a comprehensive alcohol use assessment.

ALPHA form

A tool designed to help health care providers assess psychosocial health in pregnancy

See: Screening for alcohol use in pregnancy

Assessment of Living Skills and Resources (ALSAR)

See: Assessing alcohol problems in women

AUDIT-10

The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test: Guidelines for Use in Primary Care (2nd ed.). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

Manual: Includes the AUDIT questionnaire and describes how to use it to identify people with hazardous and harmful patterns of alcohol consumption.

Questionnaire only

See: Screening for alcohol problems in primary care and Assessing alcohol problems

AUDIT-C

This alcohol screener includes the first three questions of the AUDIT-10.

See: Screening for alcohol problems in primary care

CAGE

A 4-item screening questionnaire

The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol Scale (CIWA-Ar)

A standardized clinical tool that facilitates assessment of alcohol withdrawal.

See: Alcohol withdrawal

Senior Alcohol Misuse Indicator (SAMI)

A brief, senior-specific screening tool designed to start a gentle, non-threatening conversation about alcohol consumption.

Short Michigan Alcohol Screening Test –Geriatric version (SMAST-G)

SMAST-G is a version of the Short Michigan Alcohol Screening Test modified for the geriatric population.

See Screening for alcohol problems: Older adults

T-ACE

T-ACE is a measurement tool featuring four questions that are significant identifiers of risk drinking (i.e., alcohol intake sufficient to potentially damage the embryo/fetus).

See: Screening for alcohol problems in women and Screening for alcohol use in pregnancy

TWEAK

TWEAK is a five-item scale developed originally to screen for risk drinking during pregnancy.

See: Screening for alcohol problems in women and Screening for alcohol use in pregnancy

Smoking cessation

Decisional Balance Sheet

A simple tool designed to facilitate a discussion between care providers and patients about the pros and cons of tobacco and other substance use.

See Assessing patients who smoke

Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence

A validated tool for assessing initial dosing of NRT patches.

See Assessing patients who smoke

Smoking Diary

A tool for tracking ongoing smoking when patients are attempting to reduce or quit smoking. The tool is intended to enhance patients' awareness of their smoking behaviours.

See Assessing patients who smoke

Smoking Progress Notes

A brief smoking assessment tool developed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care and the Ontario Medical Association's Clinical Tobacco Intervention program.

See Assessing patients who smoke

Opioid misuse and addiction

CAGE-AID

The CAGE-AID is a four-item screening tool. It was adapted from the original CAGE, which was designed to detect problem drinking. It asks about lifetime use and is appropriate for use with adults and adolescents (over 16 years old).

See Recognizing opioid misuse and addiction

Clinical Opiate Withdrawal Scale (COWS)

An 11-item scale designed to be administered by a clinician. This tool can be used in both inpatient and outpatient settings to reproducibly rate common signs and symptoms of opiate withdrawal and monitor these symptoms over time. The summed score for the complete scale can be used to help clinicians determine the stage or severity of opiate withdrawal and assess the level of physical dependence on opioids

See Opioid withdrawal

Opioid Risk Tool

A brief, self-report screening tool designed for use with adult patients in primary care settings to assess risk for opioid abuse among individuals prescribed opioids for treatment of chronic pain. Patients categorized as high-risk are at increased likelihood of future abusive drug-related behavior. The ORT can be administered and scored in less than 1 minute and has been validated in both male and female patients, but not in non-pain populations.

See Recognizing opioid misuse and addiction

Forms and checklists

Sample pharmacist-patient agreement forms

Sample methadone and buprenorphine treatment and take-home dose agreement forms that help pharmacists to communicate with patients.

Pharmacist's checklist for naloxone training

Ampoule

Vial

Nasal spray

Outlines the topics to be covered when training on take-home naloxone kits. Can also serve as clinical documentation.

Anxiety

Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A)

A rating scale that quantifies the severity of anxiety symptomatology. It is often used in psychotropic drug evaluation. The HAM-A contains 14 items, each defined by a series of symptoms.

See: Assessing alcohol problems in women