Abstract
Alcohol use is a preventable cause of injury as it doubles the risk of re-injury and increases mortality. For this reason, the American College of Surgeons, Committee on Trauma had mandated a screening and subsequent intervention strategy for all Level I centres, and there is good evidence to support the efficacy of such programmes. Clinicians can play a key role in reducing injury related to alcohol use through their participation in these programmes. Although validated screening tools and evidence to support brief interventions for alcohol use exist, the benefit of these experiences for other recreational drugs awaits further research in this area. In the meantime, the implementation of alcohol screening and brief intervention programmes across all trauma programmes and emergency departments should become a global healthcare priority.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 5-12 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Trauma |
Volume | 12 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 2010 |
Keywords
- alcohol
- binge drinking
- injury
- intervention
- outcomes
- prevention
- recreational drugs
- screening
- trauma
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Surgery
- Emergency Medicine
- Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine