STRATEGIES TO INCREASE ALCOHOL SCREENING IN HEALTH-CARE SETTINGS

Although health care settings offer an ideal opportunity for identifyi ng people who are currently experiencing or are at risk for problems w ith alcohol, clinicians screen fewer than one-half of their patients f or alcohol use disorders. The rate of alcohol screening may be increas ed, however, by applying strategies shown to promote the use of screen ing procedures for other medical problems, such as cancer. These strat egies include group education (e.g., workshops or seminars), training given by respected colleagues (i.e., opinion leaders), performance fee dback, educational outreach visits to individual physicians (i.e., aca demic detailing), and financial incentives or penalties. Using clinic- based system protocols (e.g., patient questionnaires) can help make th e implementation of alcohol screening in clinical practice both effici ent and effective. Although incorporating alcohol screening into other high-priority clinical activities and screening programs remains a ch allenge, routine alcohol screening as a standard of care for all patie nts is receiving increased acceptance.