American Nurse Today Article Helps Nurses Screen Patients for Alcohol Abuse

Doylestown, PA, December 19, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Holidays bring cautions about drinking too much, but alcohol abuse is a year-round problem. The chance a nurse will encounter a patient with a drinking problem is high. In a 2004 survey, 15.9 million Americans said they drank heavily, and alcohol accounts for roughly 424,000 hospital discharges.
It’s not always easy to detect alcohol abuse. The American Nurse Today article “How to screen patients for alcohol use disorders” gives nurses the tools they need to do a proper assessment.

“The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism recommends all healthcare providers screen every patient for alcohol use disorders,” says author Christine Savage, PhD, RN, CARN. “Nurses have the ethical and legal responsibility to meet this standard of care.”

Savage explains the continuum of alcohol use and provides detailed information on how to screen a patient, including how to use the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Tool (AUDIT). This tool is part of a four-step algorithm developed by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Savage, a well-known expert in alcohol abuse, is associate professor and director of the community health masters program at the college of nursing at the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing in Ohio.

“Christine has made it much easier for nurses to detect alcohol abuse,” says Pamela Cipriano, PhD, RN, FAAN, NEA-BC, Editor-in-Chief of American Nurse Today. “Her article helps nurses identify patients at risk and those who already are in trouble. Patients can then get the help they deserve.”

To read the article, visit: www.AmericanNurseToday.com/journal

American Nurse Today reaches 175,000 nurses including 160,000 members of ANA. In addition to keeping nurses abreast of ANA’s advocacy for the profession, American Nurse Today provides valuable, peer-reviewed, evidence based clinical, practical and career information that nurses can assimilate into their busy practices immediately.

HealthCom Media is a specialty publishing company located in Doylestown, PA. The company also publishes other specialty journals including Menopause Management, Assisted Living Consult, and Medicare Patient Management.

The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.9 million registered nurses through its 54 constituent member associations. The ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and by lobbying Congress and the regulatory agencies on healthcare issues affecting nurses and the public.

For more information, please contact Tyra London, Associate Publisher, HealthCom Media at (215) 489-7000, ext.117, e-mail: tlondon@healthcommedia.com or Eileen Gallen, Editorial Manager, at ext. 131,
e-mail: egallen@healthcommedia.com.

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