AUDIT-C
Brief alcohol screening tool (USPSTF-recommended) for hazardous drinking
- Highest activation tier
- Recommended
- How it is scored
- Scored in code; a detected disagreeing draft value is flagged for correction
- Care settings
- Emergency department, Inpatient, Outpatient
When it activates
Scribeable activates a calculator from the encounter. The AUDIT-C can activate when the transcript or pasted chart context documents any of these:
- Alcohol use screening
- Annual preventive visit
- Substance use evaluation
- Pre-operative assessment
- New patient intake
A coded diagnosis can also activate it. ICD-10 prefixes carried by the registry: F10.
Note-type scope: it activates on notes whose subject resolves to psychiatry, emergency medicine, hospital medicine. A note that resolves to another subject does not carry it even when the clinician's specialty matches; a note with no resolvable subject (a generic consultation) falls back to the specialty match.
Inputs the note needs
4 inputs. Each is resolved from the transcript, the pasted chart context and charted labs; at this calculator’s tier a missing input is never requested, and a missing required input keeps the score out of the draft.
| Input | Type | Unit / options | Guidance |
|---|---|---|---|
| How often alcoholic drinks? (0=Never, 1=Monthly or less, 2=2-4/month, 3=2-3/week, 4=4+/week) | symptom | ||
| Typical drinks per day? (0=1-2, 1=3-4, 2=5-6, 3=7-9, 4=10+) | symptom | ||
| How often 6+ drinks? (0=Never, 1=Less than monthly, 2=Monthly, 3=Weekly, 4=Daily) | symptom | ||
| Biological sex for gender-specific cutoff (male/female) | history |
Scoring
3 questions, each 0-4. Total 0-12. Positive: >=3 (men), >=2 (women). USPSTF-recommended.
Frequency How often alcoholic drinks? (0=Never, 1=Monthly or less, 2=2-4/month, 3=2-3/week, 4=4+/week) + Quantity Typical drinks per day? (0=1-2, 1=3-4, 2=5-6, 3=7-9, 4=10+) + Binge How often 6+ drinks? (0=Never, 1=Less than monthly, 2=Monthly, 3=Weekly, 4=Daily) (each 0-4); cutoff by sex Biological sex for gender-specific cutoff (male/female)
Interpretation
Score >=3 men or >=2 women: positive screen for hazardous drinking. Score >=7 any sex: likely alcohol use disorder.
Evidence
Sources carried in Scribeable's citation registry for this calculator.
- Bush K et al. The AUDIT alcohol consumption questions (AUDIT-C): an effective brief screening test for problem drinkingBush et al. (AUDIT-C) 1998 · 1998 · Level I · link last verified 2026-03-27
How Scribeable handles it in the note
When an encounter activates the AUDIT-C (its highest tier is recommended), Scribeable does not ask you for missing inputs. The score is computed in code from whatever inputs resolve from the transcript, the pasted chart context or charted labs; a computed value is never written into the draft for this instrument.
The score is computed in code from the resolved inputs, not recalled by the language model. If the draft states a AUDIT-C value that disagrees with the computed one, the disagreement is flagged to the second drafting pass, which is instructed to correct the score and its interpretation before you see the note.
Classified as a questionnaire: a patient-reported or clinician-rated instrument, where a spare activation carries low harm.
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