title: Alcohol: signs of improvement. The 2nd national Emergency Department survey of alcohol identification and intervention activity.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To conduct a survey of current alcohol identification and brief advice activity in English Emergency Departments, and to compare the results with the previous survey conducted in 2007.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional survey of all 187 Emergency Departments in England.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Significant increases (p<0.001) in the proportion of departments routinely asking about alcohol, using a screening questionnaire, offering help/advice for alcohol problems, and having access to Alcohol Health Workers or Clinical Nurse Specialists. More than half of all departments indicated that they had an 'alcohol champion', and this was significantly associated with access to training on both identification and provision of brief advice (p<0.001). Departments that routinely asked questions were the most likely to use a formal screening tool (p<0.05), and the Paddington Alcohol Test was the most frequently used measure (40.5%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There have been significant improvements in ED alcohol identification and brief advice activity since 2007 in line with the recommendations of the Royal College of Physicians, Department of Health and NICE guidelines. English EDs are beginning to maximise the likelihood of identifying patients who may benefit from further help or advice about their alcohol consumption, and are able to offer access to specialist staff who can provide appropriate interventions.
authors.affiliation: National Addiction Centre, Kings College London, 4 Windsor Walk, London SE5 8BB, UK. robert.patton@kcl.ac.uk
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Patton
authors.forename: Pat
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Hara
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019973:Alcohol-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires