‘Alcohol use disorder is very, very prevalent and the harm occurs long before people have physical dependence,’ Dr Steve Brinksman says in this episode of the MIMS Learning Clinical Update podcast.

He adds that if patients are concerned that they are drinking too much, they may hesitate to raise the issue with their GP because they might fear being told to stop drinking completely, and GPs may feel ‘uncomfortable’ about asking people how much they drink because alcohol misuse is ‘a common problem’ within the profession. 

Dr Brinksman, who worked as a GP for 30 years, says that GPs should encourage colleagues to seek help if they feel they have problems, and can encourage many patients to cut down rather than cut out alcohol completely. ‘If you are drinking 50 or 60 units a week, then you reduce your harm by cutting down even to 40 units a week,’ he explains.

The episode also reviews how to assess alcohol misuse, how to advise patients to cut down, and how to support patients with severe dependence.  

You can access the website version of this podcast, along with a list of key learning points, on MIMS Learning — and make notes for your appraisal. MIMS Learning offers hundreds of hours of CPD for healthcare professionals, along with a handy CPD organiser.

Educational objectives

After listening to this podcast, healthcare professionals should be better able to: 

• Assess alcohol misuse with a validated screening tool, and keep talking to patients about their drinking over time
• Support patients to cut down their consumption, to benefit their health and prevent them from moving on to more harmful drinking
• Provide brief interventions, which have good evidence of effectiveness 
• Understand the need for oral thiamine supplementation in people with severe alcohol dependence
• Discuss the medications used during a medically-assisted withdrawal
• Understand what steps to take if they feel a colleague has alcohol use disorder
• Follow safeguarding procedures if a patient or colleague poses a risk to others because of their alcohol use

Please note: this podcast is presented by medical editors and discusses educational content written or presented by doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals on the MIMS Learning website and at live events.

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