A three-year programme designed to improve the management of alcohol problems in the community has been launched by the Irish College of General Practitioners.
Mr Rolande Anderson, the project director, told delegates that alcohol abuse has reached epidemic proportions. "At least 25 per cent of our population are drinking above safe levels and alcohol abuse is significantly implicated in crime, domestic disharmony, accidents, work absenteeism, unsafe sexual behaviours and health problems," he said.
He plans to develop the "Double AA " approach, which will give doctors a framework with which to detect and prevent alcohol problems within their practices.
Included in the framework will be specific teaching modules on the elderly, women, alcohol in the workplace and brief intervention techniques to help GPs manage the problem more effectively.
Meanwhile, a Co Limerick GP illustrated the concept of a "web assisted consultation" (WAC). Patients frequently access information from the Internet and the WAC is a method to incorporate this process into the medical consultation. Dr Kieran Murphy uses the system as an information source for his patients.
Typical uses include accessing hospital websites for details of services, sending quick e-mails concerning appointments and downloading patient information leaflets from a wide variety of sources. The extra costs for a typical practice, including ISDN installation, are in the region of £2,000, he told delegates.