Determining risk status in a primary care setting.

Nurses working in primary health care settings often care for large numbers of clients in brief periods of time. Both clients and nurses express frustration toward the care provided in these circumstances. Development of a screening tool to identify high-risk clients could assist nurses in targeting interventions to these individuals; in turn, this has the potential for increasing nurse and client satisfaction. A general procedure for identifying persons at risk in primary health care settings is described. The procedure is illustrated with a specific population of clients--incarcerated women. Factors found important in assessing risk were social characteristics such as education, situational factors such as sentence length, and indicators of psychological distress such as depression. These broad categories may serve as a basis for the development of screening tools for a variety of populations.