Call 888-647-0579 to speak with an alcohol or drug abuse counselor.

Who Answers?

Nurses to offer patients advice on alcohol intake

Nurses are to advise patients about their drinking habits as part of a scheme to tackle binge drinking.

Patients who return to hospital for treatment after a drink-related injury will receive advice from nurses about their alcohol intake.

The assembly government-led scheme will start across Wales in February.

The chief nursing officer for Wales said the binge-drinking culture was “getting worse” and this could help reduce long term damage to health.

A recent report suggested 1,000 deaths each year in Wales are linked to alcohol misuse.

Research by Professor Jonathan Shepherd, of Cardiff university’s violence research group, has found it is possible to detect alcohol misuse and treat it using “brief interventions when patients with injuries return to hospital”.

He said: “Excessive drinking is a major cause of illness, injury, and behavioural problems in Wales.

“The chief medical officer for Wales’ latest annual report found that some 45,000 hospital admissions and 1,000 deaths every year in Wales are linked to alcohol misuse.

“One way to address this is through brief interventions. Hospital treatment can be a sobering experience for people and evidence shows that people are more receptive to healthcare messages when they are delivered in a clinical setting.”

The initiative, which is part of a partnership between NHS Wales and Cardiff University, is designed to target drinkers who do not need specialist alcohol treatment but whose drinking is likely to eventually damage their health.

Nurses who work in trauma and maxillofacial clinics are being encouraged to be trained to provide the advice.

‘Increasing burden’

Chief medical officer for Wales Dr Tony Jewell said the assembly government’s substance misuse strategy had provided the impetus for the development.

“In my recent letter to the service I highlighted the need to educate people about the health risks associated with exceeding safe drinking limits and make sure the health service takes this opportunity to engage fully in this training programme.”

Rosemary Kennedy, chief nursing officer for Wales said: “Binge-drinking culture is getting worse in Wales.

“Evidence-based interventions will help reduce the long-term damage from excessive drinking and the increasing burden on the NHS.”

source: BBC News

More Treatment & Detox Articles

Things to Avoid When Choosing the Right Treatment Center

The decision to seek treatment is a tough decision to make but the challenge doesn’t end there. Once you have opted to seek help there are a number of challenges that surround you such as trying to find the best type of treatment and choosing between various treatment centers that provide a range of services….

Finally, a little honesty about America’s inept war on drugs

Finally, after America has frittered away billions of taxpayer dollars arming Latin American death squads, airdropping toxic herbicide on equatorial farmland, and incarcerating more of its own citizens on nonviolent drug charges than any other industrialized nation, two political leaders last week tried to begin taming the most wildly out of control beast in the….

Accurate Native history is critical to sobriety and recovery, program finds

White Bison Inc. is a 20-year-old Native nonprofit organization that focuses not only on alcoholism recovery but also on the ways in which a history of colonization contributed to addiction in the American Indian community. Operating from a modest office on a quiet street, White Bison reaches Native communities well beyond this city south of….

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adults

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, largely affects the small children. In a global survey, it was found that the ADHD affects approximately 3 percent to 5 percent of all children. ADHD can be kept under control by proper treatment but only a few are aware that children suffering with ADHD are likely to carry the disorder….

Alcohol takes greater toll on older drinkers

When Luis Carino was sober, his friends said he was a thoughtful guy. He painted and fixed things and did odd jobs for people in the neighborhood where he used to live. But when he drank beer, which friends said was often, it was a different story. Carino, 52, who had a history of battery,….