Alcohol Misuse
The article ‘Panel Reminds Doctors to Screen for Alcohol Misuse’ is written by Sabrina Tavernise. It discusses that doctors and nurses should screen their patients to know if they are involved in the misuse of alcohol. If it is so, they should offer them counseling according to a panel of medical professionals.
Statistics from the United States Preventive Services Task Force show that a third of Americans are involved in bad use of alcohol with a small number of them being addicted. The end result is an annual death of 85,000 making it among the leading causes of death.
Research has shown that primary care doctors and nurses would play a huge role in trimming the rate of drinking through counseling. This could be carried by asking the patient a questions regarding alcohol. The questions could be based on the number of drinks taken over a span of time. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, men and women drink excessively than the recommended four drinks for men and three for women (Tavernise).
The Task Force dwelt on the adults but for adolescents, it did not however offer screening and counseling for them. This is was since the panel did not now know whether the benefits would surpass the adverse effects. This being anxiety or disgrace of being separated from the society.
The panel stressed on the preventive measure that was modelled to control people who took more to not become alcoholics. This is since those that drank more needed extensive assistance as opposed to those that drank less. Dr. Curry states that there is a risk if one drinks more than they should, though an opportunity for one to change is there.
The panel had its recommendation grounded on research that upheld counseling as a way of reducing drinking. The studies show that the adults with risky tendencies that showed heavy drinking in a year showed 12 percent bigger than those who got counseling services. The counseling process was very successful if they were in sessions. Additionally, the patients that were heavy drinkers and received counseling reduced their weekly intake to 19 from 23 (Tavernise). On the other hand, those that did not get the counseling services did not change their drinking pattern.
The Task Force is comprised of 16 experts appointed by the government though autonomous in their operation. It is charged with making recommendations regarding screen tests among other activities to prevent illness. The recommendation is acquired from research done. Recommendations provided by the panel is applied into the US’ health system supported by the Affordable Care Act. The Act calls for health insurance organizations to undertake health services at no charge. The screening for alcohol use is incorporated in the recommendations.
There are however disputes that arises regarding offering counseling services to these patients. This is since doctors do not follow up on the progress of the patient. 60 percent that went through the process are still drug addicts. This is based on a study by American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
The adverse effects of alcohol consumption can lead to several illnesses, according to the panel. They include hypertension and cancers. The study however was not based on trying to acquire details on the impact of counseling on mortality rates (Tavernise).
The use of counseling in reducing alcohol consumption is not an effective method to help heavy drinkers to manage their drinking. This arises from their lack of positive results from some of those that received the services. The study by the task force was based on a section of the patients that were successful while similarly, the negative impacts were great. Additionally, the study used for offering recommendation did not relate to the case in point. It is hence it is not an effective method for use.
Work Cited
Tavernise, Sabrina. “Panel Reminds Doctors to Screen for Alcohol Misuse.” The New York Times 2012. website: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/health/doctors-reminded-to-screen-for-alcohol-problems.html?_r=1& (accessed 18th December 2013).
