How a sample of toronto physicians see alcoholism and drug abuse

The present study, an opinion poll, attempted to elicit from physicians their opinions about alcoholism. A small survey was carried out at the Medical Unit of the Addiction Research Foundation of Ontario on two groups of physicians - the one group referring patients to the Unit, and the other not referring patients to the Unit.The physicians who referred patients were predominantly general practitioners with relatively few academic appointments. The non-referring group included more specialists, particularly internists. The latter group had received more university courses of study on alcoholism than the referring group. It transpired that the referring group dealing with the largest number of alcoholic patients had the least preparation for this activity. It should be noted that half of the referring physicians had received some training in alcoholism from short courses arranged by the ARF.