[A multicenter primary care study on alcohol consumption]

Abstract

Objectives: To find records of alcoholic drink consumption in general medical records and actions taken when at-risk drinkers were identified.

Design: A descriptive study using clinical auditing at 4 Health Centres.

Participants: 399 Primary Care (PC) clinical records.

Measurements and main results: Only 24.8% of the clinical records included alcoholic drink consumption over the last two years. Only 11 (2.8%)-all for men-of the records examined fulfilled the criteria for the drinker being considered at-risk. Low recording of alcohol might be for different reasons: some related to the professionals, others to the internal organisation of the PC team, yet others due to the external support structure. Causes related to internal organisation and the professionals were considered priority, as it was harder to intervene from the team into external causes.

Conclusions: The results show low recording of alcohol consumption and justify the design of specific interventions. The methodology of continual quality improvement helps us identify the causes, the possible solutions and to design the strategy for change.