Implementing Technology-Supported Care for Depression and Alcohol Use Disorder in Primary Care in Colombia: Preliminary Findings

Abstract

Objective: Depression and alcohol use disorder are among the most common causes of disability and death worldwide. Health care systems are seeking ways to leverage technology to screen, evaluate, and treat these conditions, because workforce interventions alone, particularly in lowand middle-income countries, are insufficient. This article reports data from the first year of implementation of a technology-supported, systematic approach to identify and care for persons with these disorders in primary care in Colombia. Methods:A care process that includes waiting room kiosks to screen primary care patients, decision support tablets to guide doctors in diagnosis and treatment, and access to digital therapeutics as a treatment option was implemented in two primary care clinics, one urban and one in a small town. The project collected data on the number of people screened, diagnosed, and engaged in the research and their demographic characteristics. Results:In the first year, 2,656 individuals were screened for depression and unhealthy alcohol use in the two clinics. Primary care doctors increased the percentage of patients diagnosed as having depression and alcohol use disorder from next to 0% to 17% and 2%, respectively. Conclusions:Early experience with implementing technology-supported screening and decision support for depression and alcohol use disorder into the workflow of busy primary care clinics in Colombia indicates that this care model is feasible and leads to dramatically higher rates of

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Primary care-based screening and management of depression amongst heavy drinking patients: Interim secondary outcomes of a three-country quasi-experimental study in Latin America

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