Why this website?

This website all begin with a chat I was having whilst at the Emergency Department of a city hospital last month. We talked about why I was in town and that led to a conversation about my time working in the Alcohol and other Drug Field last century. Gee that makes me feel old - even when it is true!

The doctor shared how a lot of the work in Emergency Department is alcohol related. Of course, people who are drunk have an increased risk of a fall, motor vehicle or boat accident, drowning, alcohol poisoning, getting into fights, alcoholic gastritis, attempted suicide, making poor judgments about how safe it is to be with a particular person or engage in an activity not tried before etc. Being with someone who is drunk, or being at the receiving end of drunken behaviour, can also end with someone in Emergency.

I said I’d send some information, but the question arose as to how? This exchange motivated me to put down a few thoughts on this topic, and create this little website. Something I had considered doing for many years, but my life had other priorities.

And no wonder the topic was of keen interest to the doctors I was chatting with, because ED staff have been at the receiving end of a lot of difficult behaviour by alcohol-affected people.

For example, The Australasia College of Emergency Medicine noted in this study published online March 2016:

“Over 2,000 clinicians were surveyed about their experiences of alcohol-affected patients in EDs. It was found that:  

• 98% had experienced verbal aggression from alcohol-affected patients in the past 12 months  

• 92% had experienced physical threats from alcohol-affected patients in the past 12 months  

• 87% had felt unsafe due to the presence of an alcohol-affected patient while working in the ED  

• 88% said the care of other patients was negatively or very negatively affected  

• 94% said alcohol-affected patients in the ED had a negative or very negative effect on the workload of the ED staff.”

These findings were published in the Medical Journal of Australia.

And … “An increase in the consumption of alcohol from holiday, social, and sporting events pose the risk for an influx of presentations to EDs and as a result may negatively impact departmental flow.”

From: Alcohol-Related Presentations to Emergency Departments on Days with Holidays, Social, and Sporting Events: An Integrative Literature Review

Will continue to make some posts and answer questions.

Cheers

RG