PUPC Recap—Fighting Stigmas and Finding Solutions: Addressing Alcohol Use Disorder in Clinical Practice
Key Highlights
- Clinicians should ask questions, screen, and listen to patients with mild, moderate, or severe alcohol use disorder.
- The 3 FDA-approved medications for alcohol use disorder are available but underutilized.
- Many practitioners and patients are unaware of available medication tools for reducing or stopping alcohol use.
In this interview, Arwen Podesta, MD, DFAPA, DFASAM, describes how alcohol use disorder remains a significant burden for patients and the health care system, and that clinicians across specialties should screen for alcohol use disorder, ask open-ended questions, and use available treatment tools, including 3 FDA-approved medications that remain underutilized.
Consultant360: What are some of the key themes of your presentation for PUPC?
Podesta: I'm so excited to be doing this presentation because it's such an important thing to consider. You know, alcohol use disorder has really been a very big burden to the healthcare system and to patients, and so, luckily, we get to pay attention to that from a psychiatric and a general primary care and any practitioner perspective. There are all different grades of alcohol use disorder, but when it's disordered, it's a disorder, and we need to ask questions, screen, and then listen to patients and figure out how we can help patients get to their best selves. So I love this topic because, you know, here we are in a world where, culturally, it's appropriate, and it's legal to drink alcohol. That's fine, but when someone is having something that has the word disorder in it, even if it's very mild or moderate or certainly severe, we really need to know how to ask the questions, how to screen, and how to make sure that we listen to our patients and help them get to where they need to be
Consultant360: Why is this topic particularly relevant right now?
Podesta: Let me start by saying that this topic is particularly relevant right now because we are in an era where a lot of people are interested in having less of a relationship with alcohol or learning how to be healthier. And, believe it or not, we have 3 FDA-approved medications and lots more coming down the pipeline, but those 3 are so underutilized, and not many people even know about them. Many practitioners don't know about these medications that are available and have been for a long time, and are effective, and many patients, all over, don't have a clue that these medications are out there, that they have something that can be a tool that can help them with their journey to drink less or to stop drinking.
Consultant360: And what are the most important takeaways from your session?
Podesta: So many takeaways, honestly, but screening is key and having a conversation about all substances. When we're talking about this topic, it's alcohol: making sure that all practitioners from all walks of life know how to ask open-ended questions, use screening tools, and use the tools we have at our fingertips to treat. One of the things that I'm so excited about is that we have all these new tools in the pipeline, and we will have more tools in the toolbox as well. The biggest thing is that we are not using all the tools that we have. We're not even asking the questions. So that's what we're here to talk about.
This transcript was edited for clarity.