Emergency physician attitudes concerning intervention for alcohol abuse/dependence delivered in the emergency department: a brief report.
Emergency Medicine (EM) physicians frequently see patients with alcohol abuse or dependence (AA/AD). Brief interventions delivered in the Emergency Department (ED) have been advocated for these patients, however, little is known regarding EM physician willingness to support such interventions. We conducted a study to determine EM physicians' attitudes toward the use of interventions for AA/AD in the ED. All members of the Michigan College of Emergency Physicians (n = 569) were mailed a survey to assess their attitudes toward the use of intervention for AA/AD in the ED. Of the 257 respondents (45.9%), a total of 76% agreed that AA/AD is a treatable illness and only 15% would not agree to support of ED interventions. Both supporters and non-supporters thought that the lack of sufficient time was an impediment to treating AA/AD in the ED. Our study suggests that the majority of ED physicians would support the implementation of brief intervention for AA/AD in the ED.
Graham
D M
DM
Medical School, University of Michigan, USA.
Maio
R F
RF
Blow
F C
FC
Hill
E M
EM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010819:Physician's Role; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D016896:Treatment Outcome