Do Doctors' Drinking Habits Affect Management of Patients' Alcohol Problems?

Two different studies explored whether a physician's approach to his patients' alcohol use is complicated by his own drinking habits.

Kaner et al interviewed 29 general practitioners (GPs) in Northern England and found the following:

* Some GPs felt that their own alcohol use provided them insight into their patients' use and helped facilitate discussion with patients. Others, however, separated their drinking from their patients' drinking.

* Some GPs recognized and addressed risk only in patients who drank more or differently from them.

Aalto et al surveyed all Finnish primary care physicians (n=3193), 60% of whom completed all survey questions (63% women; mean age 42 years).

* Of these respondents, 15% (7% of women, 27% of men) were heavy drinkers, scoring >=8 on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Fifty-nine percent offered brief interventions (BIs)–9% regularly and 50% occasionally.

* In analyses controlling for demographic and training characteristics, AUDIT scores did not predict either regular or occasional use of BIs.


Comments by Jeffrey Samet, MD, MA, MPH:
Physician drinking can influence clinical practices around alcohol issues. It does not appear, however, to explain the infrequent use of brief interventions.

Reprinted with permission from Alcohol and Health: Current Evidence.

Reference:
Kaner E, Rapley T, May C. (2006) Seeing through the glass darkly? A qualitative exploration of GPs' drinking and their alcohol intervention practices. Fam Pract., 23(4): 481–487.

Aalto M, Hyvönen S, Seppa K. (2006) Do primary care physicians' own AUDIT scores predict their use of brief alcohol intervention? A cross-sectional survey. Drug Alcohol Depend., 83(2): 169–173.

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