Traffic Tech #255: Developing Best Practices Of Emergency Care For The Alcohol Impaired Patient |
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) and the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) sponsored a national conference on June 2, 2000 in Washington, DC. The conference brought health care professionals together to develop best practices of emergency medical care for the alcohol-impaired patient. The conference was a part of an ongoing Partners in Progress initiative to increase health care professionals involvement in transportation issues and to contribute to the national goal of reducing alcohol-related traffic deaths to no more than 11,000 by the year 2005.
The conference followed up the recommendations of the Partners in Progress: An Impaired Driving Guide for Action report (See Traffic Tech 163, 1997). Partners in Progress recognizes physicians, nurses, and paramedics as key partners in reducing impaired driving consequences because of their intimate in-volvement with the results of alcohol-related crashes and their frequent interaction with the population known to be high risk for impaired driving.
Patients with alcohol use problems (AUP) are more likely to drive after drinking and have both higher rates of illness and motor vehicle crash injury than the general population. Health promotion and prevention mandates a structured approach to these individuals. Patients with AUP frequently come into contact with the emergency medical services system, from pre-hospital through the trauma center, as a result of their high risk behaviors. Treating this disorder leads to reductions in impaired driving episodes, which in turn leads to fewer alcohol-related crash injuries. Emergency physicians, nurses in the emergency department and trauma center, and pre-hospital providers in the field have a unique role to play in the identification of the disease, patient education and intervention, and referral for formal evaluation and treatment.
Screening for the disease and appropriate intervention and referral are not widely practiced in emergency medicine and trauma, thus missing a prime opportunity for prevention of an epidemic disease. Moreover, many of these patients may interface with the medical system only through emergency medicine or trauma care, particularly at early stages of their disease when they can benefit most from intervention and treatment.
During the conference, a best practice strawman for physicians, nurses, and prehospital professionals was presented and participants provided input about the strawman and ultimately into the development of best practices for each area.
The following Best Practices are intended to serve as the basis for changing how patients with AUP are treated in the ambulance, the emergency department, and the trauma center. The full report contains notes about the recommendations.
Recommended Best Practices for Pre-Hospital Professionals
Recommended Best Practices for Nurses
Recommended Best Practices for Physicians
HOW TO ORDER
For a copy of Developing Best Practices of Emergency Care for the Alcohol Impaired Patient: Recommendations from the National Conference, (53 pages) write to Media and Marketing, NHTSA, NTS-21, 400 Seventh Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20590, fax (202) 366-2062, or download from www.nhtsa.dot.gov
U.S. Department
of Transportation
National Highway
Traffic Safety
Administration
400 Seventh Street, S.W. NTS-31
Washington, DC 20590
Traffic Tech is a publication to disseminate information about traffic safety programs, including evaluations, innovative programs, and new publications. Feel free to copy it as you wish.
If you would like to receive a copy contact:
Linda Cosgrove, Ph.D., Editor, Evaluation Staff
Traffic Safety Programs
(202) 366-2759, fax (202) 366-7096
E-MAIL: lcosgrove@nhtsa.dot.gov