Talking About Alcohol in Primary Care: Do Patients Find It Useful?

Alcohol
screening and brief interventions in primary care are efficacious
but not optimally delivered in clinical practice. To examine the
prevalence and perceived usefulness of alcohol use discussions
in primary care, researchers in Finland surveyed 1203 patients
(representing a 60% response rate) of 14 general practitioners
at 2 health centers. Upon leaving an appointment with their physicians,
patients completed a questionnaire that assessed the occurrence,
duration, content, and usefulness of an alcohol use discussion
during their visits.

• Discussions
  with physicians about alcohol were rare (only 12% of patients
  reported having one), brief (89% were <5 minutes), and most
  often included inquiries about quantities consumed and information
  about alcohol’s harms.
• A
  great majority of patients (81%) felt that the discussions
  were useful, a finding similar among both heavy drinkers (who
  were identified by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification
  Test) and non-heavy drinkers.

Comments:

Alcohol

use discussions are uncommon in primary care but apparently

perceived as useful by a large proportion of patients (even

after considering this study’s limited survey response
rate

and the possible bias introduced by such selective discussion).

These findings, if replicated in other countries, support

efforts to improve implementation of alcohol discussions

in primary care and assuage concerns that talking about

alcohol engenders patient dissatisfaction with their physicians.

Jeffrey H. Samet, MD, MA, MPH

Reference:

Aalto

M, Seppä K. Usefulness, length and content of alcohol-related
discussions in primary health care: the exit poll survey. Alcohol
Alcohol. 2004;39(6):532–535.