Madeline Larson 4/5/2014 Biology 1615 Article Summary CDC Vital Signs: Communication Between Health Professionals and

Their Patients About Alcohol Use- 44 States and the District of Columbia, 2011

In the United States a study was conducted each year during the period of 20062010 that found that excessive alcohol use was prevalent in 88,000 deaths and $224 billion deaths. A preventative group called the Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) got involved and has made a recommendation for alcohol misuse screening and counseling for addictive behaviors. The counseling would address the excessive and compulsive use of alcohol in adults and adolescents. The intervention would go through a organization called Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention [ASBI], and will be covered by many health plans because of the Affordable Care Act. The methods used to record and collect the information was done by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) were surveys done in 44 states and the District of Columbia. They analyzed data from Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The questions in the surveys included whether the patient had spoken with a health professional about alcohol use. U.S adults over the age of 18 that spoke with a professional numbered 166,753. The results showed that 15.7% of U.S adults overall spoke with their health professionals about alcohol use, 17.4% among current drinkers, and 25.4% among

binge drinkers. The most communication was among those aged 18-24 (27.9%). The results showed much less communication than would be ideal. Only one of 6 U.S adults including binge drinkers reported ever speaking with a health professional or their doctor. Even with the public health efforts to increase ASBI implementation. The differences in preventative services within the primary care environments could have affected the communication between patient and professionals. But the overall regardless of these factors the communication was extremely low and the available preventative services were underused. According to health professionals the communication barriers for counseling and screening for alcohol abusers included: lack of training, time, efficacy, discomfort discussing the topic, ideas of difficulty working with substance use patients, skepticism of treatment effectiveness; patient resistance; and lack of insurance coverage (Vital signs p 5). Several personal and community level interventions were recommended by the Community Preventive Services Task Force to reduce excessive alcohol use. Some of these included an electronic screening and brief intervention. Another approach was targeted towards physicians and other health professionals to be more aware of the signs and strategies to help excessive alcohol drinkers and avoid the barriers to communication in the clinical setting.