Premium
ALCOHOLISM AND ALCOHOL ABUSE — A COUNTRY HOSPITAL'S APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM
Author(s) -
Whitington Ron
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
australian alcohol/drug review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.018
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1465-3362
pISSN - 0726-4550
DOI - 10.1080/09595238380000051
Subject(s) - alcohol abuse , alcoholics anonymous , alcohol , community hospital , general hospital , psychiatry , medicine , family medicine , medical emergency , biochemistry , chemistry
For some years the hospital executive and staff had been aware of the problems caused by alcohol in the community, and of the importance of alcohol abuse as a cause of hospital admissions. A meeting was held in November 1978, to discuss the setting up of an alcohol treatment program, and an alcohol program committee was formed. It consisted of hospital executives, doctors, nurses, community health staff and members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), and was responsible for drawing up the Alcohol Withdrawal Program used at the hospital. The program attempts to use the crisis of withdrawal to motivate the sick alcoholic into a change of attitude and hopefully a successful induction into AA. No drugs are used. Instead, AA members sit with the patient and help them through the crisis. The functions of the Alcohol Program Committee are briefly described.