Alcohol Screening Case Study, Free Paper for Your Inspiration

Alcohol Screening Questionnaire (AUDIT)

How often do you have a drink containing alcohol? Never Monthly or less Two to four times a month Two to three times a month Four or more times a week

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How many drinks containing alcohol do you have on a typical day when you are drinking? Zero to two Three or four Five or six Seven to nine Ten or more

How often do you have six or more drinks on one occasion? Never Less than monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily

How often during the last year have you found that you were not able to stop drinking once you had started? Never Less than monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily

How often during the last year have you failed to do what was normally expected of you because of drinking? Never Less than monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily

How often during the last year have you needed a first drink in the morning to get yourself going after a heavy drinking session? Never Less than monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily

How often during the last year have you had a feeling of guilt or remorse after drinking? Never Less than monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily

How often during the last year have you been unable to remember what happened the night before because of your drinking? Never Less than monthly Monthly Weekly Daily or almost daily

Have you or someone else been injured because of your drinking? No Yes, but not in the last year Yes, in the last year

Has a relative, friend, doctor, or other health care worker been concerned about your drinking or suggested you cut down? No Yes, but not in the last year Yes, in the last year

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Drug Screening Questionnaire (DAST)

Which recreational drugs you have used in the past year? None

Have you used drugs other than those required for medical reasons? No Yes

Do you abuse more than one drug at a time? No Yes

Are you unable to stop using drugs when you want to? No Yes

Have you ever had blackouts or flashbacks as a result of drug use? No Yes

Do you ever feel bad or guilty about your drug use? No Yes

Does your spouse (or parents) ever complain about your involvement with drugs? No Yes

Have you neglected your family because of your use of drugs? No Yes

Have you engaged in illegal activities in order to obtain drugs? No Yes

Have you ever experienced withdrawal symptoms (felt sick) when you stopped taking drugs? No Yes

Have you had medical problems as a result of your drug use (e.g. memory loss, hepatitis, convulsions, bleeding)? No Yes

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SOCIAL WORKER

History

The patient, in this case, is a 70-year-old Hispanic female who has a history of several complications which are congestive heart failure (CHF), deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and dementia. In addition to these the patient has been diagnosed with Ovarian cancer and there are some lymph nodes that are also involved. Due to this condition, the patient had been experiencing pain that had to be controlled by Lortab 5/500 every 4 to 6 hours and during her treatment while admitted at the hospital the pain had to be brought under control using Morphine. Upon discharge, she was given a prescription for Lortab 10/500 to be taken for every 6 to 8 hours and Roxanol. The patient had been taking alcohol moderately during her life before the onset of this sickness.

Assessment

She is in pain but when she was being admitted she could answer questions without straining perhaps hopeful that she was going to get relief at last. Her age coupled with the medical complications have made her look older and exhausted most of the times. She has taken so many medications on high blood pressure but when she gets discharged nothing is prescribed for it. She has never heard about a hospice and wants to be home under whatever circumstances where she is used to being with her daughter. The medical personnel refer her to a medical social worker for further assessment.

Alcohol Screen

She is taking some other drugs and drinking excessively as time goes by, but she reports that she is doing it moderately.

Advice

There is a belief that due to her current situation she believes that she can get relief from the effects of alcohol. The patient has two children with the daughter being her primary caregiver and the son lives out of state and does not support her in any way. Their funds are running low, and at this juncture, they cannot afford a funeral and are contemplating donating her body for science as they cannot afford a funeral if she dies.

I want her to stop worrying as this could be complicating her health much further. It could be preventing the body to relax entirely and address the problems that she is experiencing. This could be partly the reason why she is consuming alcohol to unmanageable levels. There is a high possibility that it could be interfering with the working of some of the drugs that she is taking. I insist that she needs to start reducing her alcohol consumption and start observing the effects of the prescribed medicine on her body as am sure it will address her complications especially the pain effectively.

PATIENT

History

You are a 70-year-old female Hispanic who has been developing medical complications due to old age. You have been worrying about the burden that you have been placing on your daughter to take care of you. Your son has not been getting in touch and has not been supporting you in any way despite knowing what you are going through at the moment. Your discomforts and the pain have been increasing by the day, and you have been in and out of the hospital on several occasions. You have been on Lortab and Roxanol among other medications to address your pain and some of these complications. Most of the time you do not take your medicines on time due to the drowsy alcohol effects although you had never had any problems with drinking in the past.

Negotiation

You want to stick to what the medical personnel prescribed, but your alcohol intake is interfering with the same. You do not like the after effects of most of these medications especially the ones that you had been using to control your high blood pressure.

Pros

You are willing to get assisted and ready to stop drinking. In the past, you had been doing it moderately and believe that you can still do it.

Cons

Every passing day you have had to increase your alcohol consumption to get the same effect. It looks like the body is getting used to these effects and you have to consume much more to realize similar results. It is worrying as you are not sure about where you are headed.

Patient Goal

You are ready to start reducing your alcohol intake up to a point where you will stop drinking altogether.

REFLECTION

The client has had a score of 21 out of a maximum of 40 in the AUDIT score related to the consumption of alcohol. The patient had a score of 5 out of 10 in the DAST sheet the one that is dealing with drug abuse. The AUDIT screening could tell the frequency of the alcohol intake and whether the patient had any after effects. The score for the patient in question is slightly above fifty percent which is not that bad. The areas most affected with the patient in question were her alcohol intake which was more than four bottles several times a week, and she found herself unable to stop drinking once she started. She did not have a problem in the morning after as she never felt the urge to do it after a heavy session the previous night. She never had any feeling of guilt or remorse and never hurt anyone in the course of drinking. When it comes to a substance or drug abuse the screening questionnaire gave indications of whether the patient was abusing other drugs like and the frequency. The patient never had a serious with other drugs other than the ones that had been prescribed. She never had problems with her responsibilities with her family and friends or felt the need to get involved in illegal activities to obtain the drugs. The score for the individual, in this case, was at 50 percent which was an average score.

I was feeling in charge of the situation as a social worker and using the assessment tools made me feel more in control. These tools provided a means of asking uncomfortable questions without feeling guilty or embarrassed. They also indicated the areas that we were going to address in assisting the patient. Without such tools dealing with these problems could have been more difficult.