Prompting alcoholics to be referred to an alcohol clinic: the effectiveness of a simple letter.
Many patients received in emergency units (EU) of hospitals present alcohol-related problems. Most are alcohol dependent or abusers and enter for drunkenness, stay a few hours and return home. To assess the effectiveness of a letter referring these patients to an outpatient alcoholism treatment clinic, we performed a randomized study. For 6 months, all the patients who had been diagnosed as alcoholic, who had an address and who had not consulted a physician for alcoholism in the 6 previous months were selected from the records of the EU of a French university hospital. At least 2 days after their stay in the EU, we sent a letter to 181 patients of an experimental group (group E) suggesting they make an appointment with a physician specializing in alcoholism. No letter was sent to 181 patients in a control group (group C). Six months later, 21 patients (11.2%) of group E had called the outpatient alcoholism treatment clinic to make an appointment and came to a consultation. Two of the 181 patients of group C came to the consultation. The effectiveness of this method for referring alcoholics to a clinic had been controlled by another prospective study. We concluded that sending a letter 2 days after the passage of an alcoholic to an EU for drunkenness is a useful method of referral to an outpatient alcoholism treatment clinic.
Batel
P
P
Hôpital Beaujon, Clichy, France.
Pessione
F
F
Bouvier
A M
AM
Rueff
B
B
D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D015709:Correspondence as Topic; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D016896:Treatment Outcome