PERCEPTION OF ALCOHOLISM RISK IN HEALTH WORKERS: MEDICAL ROLE IN PREVENTION AND SURVEILLANCE

OBJECT OF THE STUDY In this time of new directions about safety at work, we have investigated alcohol-related risk in a sample of future Health Operators. METHODS Between October 2006 and January 2009, we submitted a questionnaire about perception of alcohol related risks to 333 physicians and 302 hospital attendants on training. RESULTS The group of physicians was represented by 54% of female and 46% of male; the group of hospital attendants by 60% of female and 40% of male. The 43% of male hospital attendants and the 44% of male physicians declared they daily used ethanol. The perception of alcohol-risk among physicians is higher than in the group of physicians, for the age and cultural differences, related to the kind and duration of the studies. We observed that only the 57,6% and 37,5% of the two groups, respectively, were informed about the rules concerning the use of alcohol at work. The remaining part of the two samples was not informed about rules “ad hoc”. The female members of the group is more susceptible to social problems and well-informed about clinical problems and rules alcohol-related. CONCLUSIONS The present and future Health Operators are still ill-informed but they show interest in a better information about the risk related to the use of alcohol. Moreover, they require more instructions to support patients and colleagues with alcohol abus