Alcohol education and training in pre-registration nursing: A national survey to determine curriculum content in the United Kingdom (UK)

Background: Alcohol-related harm impacts significantly on the health of the population. Nurses are oftenamong the first health professionals that many patients with alcohol-related problems come into contactwith and have been identified as playing a key role but may be ill-prepared to respond. Future nurses needto have the skills, knowledge and clinical confidence to respond to patients suffering from alcohol-relatedharm. A pre-registration curriculum that ensures a nursing workforce fit for practice in responding toalcohol-related harm is necessary.Objectives: To determine the level of alcohol education and training content in the pre-registration curriculumfornursing in the United Kingdom (UK). To establish whether there are variations in the pre-registration curriculumcontent across the UK.Design: A descriptive study.Setting: All 68 UK Higher Education Institutions offering a total of 111 pre-registration courses for nurses wereinvited to participate in the study.Participants: Twenty nine completed questionnaireswere returned, a response rate of 26%. The largest number ofidentified responders were from England (n=15), with 3 from Scotland and 1 each from Wales and NorthernIreland. Nine Universities chose not to identify themselves.Methods: An online semi-structured questionnaire survey was used to collect the study data.Results: Teaching of alcohol and alcohol related harm was mainly delivered during the second year of apre-registration nursing programme provided mainly to adult and mental health students. Overall, the majorityof alcohol related content that is provided within the responding pre-registration nursing courses relates tobiophysiology, aetiology, and pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions.Conclusion: This study highlights the need for a greater and more relevant focus of alcohol education topre-registration nursing students of all fields of practice incorporating an integrated approach across all yearsof study