Alcohol & Alcoholism Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 262-265, 2004
Alcohol & Alcoholism Vol. 39, No. 3 © Medical Council on Alcohol 2004; all rights reserved
ALCOHOL DRINKING AMONG EMERGENCY PATIENTS—ALCOMETER USE AND DOCUMENTATION
1 Department of General Practice, Tampere University, Finland and 2 Department of Psychiatry, Tampere University Hospital, Finland
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed to at: Medical School, Department of General Practice, FIN-33014 University of Tampere, Finland. E-mail: mekase{at}uta.fi
(Received 23 October 2003; first review notified 14 December 2003; in revised form 12 January 2004; accepted 2 February 2004)
Aims: To measure physicians' use of the alcometer (breath analysis test) and their documentation of alcohol-related findings among their patients. Methods: Over one weekend, during which 100 adults attended the emergency clinic of a university hospital, data were collected on patients' alcohol consumption, physicians' use of an alcometer and alcohol-related documentation. Heavy drinkers were defined by the patient's response to a written questionnaire: Five-Shot total score 
3 points, and/or 7 drinks per one occasion. Results: The questionnaire was filled in by 96 patients; 26 (27%) were heavy drinkers. The alcometer was used in 7% of patients including 5 of 26 (19%) of the heavy drinkers. For only 12/26 (46%) heavy drinkers was there written information on alcohol use in the medical record. For 6 of the 20 patients whose visit was primarily considered by the physician to be alcohol-related, no documentation on alcohol appeared in the records. When documentation was present, drinking quantities were not usually recorded. Conclusions: It is a challenge to increase the emergency clinic staff's activity in detection and documenting alcohol abuse.