Alcohol Screening

Question 1

What are the safe levels of drinking for females?

Answer 1

• 7 or less per week

- no more three on one occasion

Question 2

What are the safe levels of drinking for males?

Answer 2

• 14 drinks or less per week

- no more than 4 drinks on any one occasion

Question 3

What are the three ways to ask the pt if they drink?

Answer 3

CAGE, AUDIT-C, NIAA algorithm

Question 4

How to specifically assess drinking habits?

Answer 4

How often do you have a drink containing alcohol?
How many drinks do you have on a typical day when you’re drinking?
How often do you have 6 or more drinks on one occasion?
^AUDIT-C

Question 5

What are the 4 CAGE questions?

Answer 5

(1) Have you ever felt you should CUT down on your drinking?
(2) Have ppl ANNOYED you by criticizing your drinking?
(3) Have you ever felt GUILTY about your drinking?
(4) Have you ever had an EYE-OPENER, a drink first thing in the morning, to steady your nerves?

Question 6

What are some symptoms of chronic alcohol use?

Answer 6

RUQ pain (liver), insomnia, pancreatitis

Question 7

Ways to open the convo about alcohol

Answer 7

“on a scale of 1-10, how much do you want to change your drinking habits?”
“why 5 instead of 3?”
“what can we do to make that 5 an 8?”

“do you have any ideas of what you think we could work on to cut back on your drinking?”

“have you ever tried quitting before?”

Question 8

Key points to hit during a convo about alcohol

Answer 8

• warning shot to start off convo
• clearly communicate that their alcohol use is unsafe (I’m worried about your alcohol use)
• specific feedback on how their alcohol use seems to be affecting them (find something personal, claudication or liver failure)
• provide recommendation for safe alcohol use (national guidelines- ideal drinking goal
• collaborate w/ pt to come up w/ a plan, follow up

Question 9

When to advise abstinence from drinking

Answer 9

• alcohol dependence
• pregnancy or trying to conceive
• medications (ex: warfarin) or medical conditions (pancreatitis, hepatitis) contraindicating alcohol
• blackouts
• family history
• HTN, insomnia
• risky behaviors (driving under the influence, unprotected sex)

Question 10

How many ounces of the following is one drink?

(a) beer
(b) malt liquor
(c) wine
(d) hard liquor

Answer 10

1 drink

(a) 12 ounces of beer
(b) 8 ounces of malt liquor
(c) 5 ounces of wine
(d) 1.5 ounces of hard liquor

Question 11

Example of way to approach talking about drinking to a child

Answer 11

“Do you have any friends who drink alcohol?”

“How about you- have you ever had a few or more sips of alcohol? If so, how many days in the past year have you”