News Advisory
Updated Guide Offers Clinicians New Tools to Help Patients With Alcohol Problems
What: Announces update of Helping Patients Who Drink Too Much: A Clinician’s Guide, produced by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Why: The updated Guide includes a new medications management program that consists of brief, structured outpatient sessions designed for easy use in nonspecialty outpatient settings by physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals. Applying the Guide’s medication management approach in nonspecialty settings will greatly expand access to effective treatment, since many patients with alcohol dependence either don’t have access to specialty treatment or refuse referrals to specialists. Other Guide updates include: a new handout with strategies to help patients cut down on drinking or quit; a new page on the NIAAA Web site devoted to the Guide and supporting resources for clinicians and patients; and information about a newly approved, injectable drug to treat alcohol dependence.
When: Wednesday, January 3, 2007.
More Information: Call NIAAA Press Office at 301-443-3860 to arrange an interview with Mark Willenbring, M.D., Director, NIAAA Division of Treatment and Recovery Research. The updated Guide and related materials are available on the NIAAA Website via: http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/guide.
NIAAA is the primary U.S. agency for conducting and supporting research on the causes, consequences, prevention, and treatment of alcohol abuse, alcoholism, and alcohol problems, and it disseminates research findings to general, professional, and academic audiences. Additional alcohol research information and publications are available at http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/.
NIH — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary Federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov/.