Does The Drinking Behavior of Interns and Residents Affect Their Attitudes Toward the Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Regarding Alcohol?

Jeon, Byung Han; Noh, Hyun; Kim, Chan Woong; Kim, Sung Eun; Lee, Sang Jin; Lee, Dong Hoon

Abstract

PURPOSE: We investigated the relationship between the drinking behavior of primary healthcare providers (interns and residents) and their attitude toward the screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) questionnaire used for problem-drinking patients in an emergency department and an outpatient clinic.
METHODS
Our survey was sent to interns and residents in two university hospitals. The survey inquired about (1) primary healthcare providers' AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test) score, (2) self diagnosis of their own drinking behavior, and (3) the attitude of problem drinking patients toward the SBIRT. We analyzed for correlations between drinking behavior and SBIRT scores.
RESULTS
A total of 109 interns and residents completed the survey. The component of ratio between the normal group, risky drinking group and the alcohol use disorder group of respondents was 43.1%, 40.4% and 16.5%, respectively. The proportion of risky drinking + alcohol use disorder among our subjects was higher than in the general population. Using the AUDIT scoring method drinking behavior diagnosis and self diagnosis were correlated (p<0.05). The ratio for the normal group that disagreed for alcohol screening test's necessity (59.6%) was higher than for the risky drinking group (34.1%) and alcohol use disorder group(38.9%) (p=0.041) and shows that doctors' own drinking behavior may affect enforcement of the drinking screening test for patients.
CONCLUSION
Our research suggests that alcohol use among doctors affects their attitude towards the implementation of drinking screening tests (SBIRT) for patients. Also, doctors have a higher rate of problem drinking than the general population. Those doctors in the problem-drinking group are more likely to think that they do not have any problems with their own drinking behavior and they do not agree with the necessity of a drinking screening test more than brief intervention, and referral to treatment We believe that interns and residents need medical education and self-awareness training with regards to the effects of alcohol.