[Education facing risk consumption of alcoholic beverages - A proposal for interdisciplinary action from the health...

Educating and increasing awareness in the consumer to achieve a moderate alcohol consumption is key to promote a healthy lifestyle. Health care professionals (HCP), in particular community pharmacists and Primary Care (PC) physicians and nurses, are key influencers in the education to prevent risk behaviors. A consumer's poor knowledge of concepts such as standard unit, the recommendations on alcohol use, or the alcohol equivalence in the drinks consumed, can lead to a high-risk use, since "alcohol is alcohol" no matter what beverage contains it. Moreover, HCPs are usually not familiar with these concepts and with early detection tools such as the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test). We propose a multidisciplinary approach (PC physicians and nurses, community pharmacy, dietists-nutritionists) to educate consumers on the risks associated with the use of alcohol, supported by the development of a protocol of action subscribed by the scientific societies of these professional groups, with the main objective of contributing to optimal and updated training for HCPs. Thus, this protocol of action aims to prevent risk behaviors through consumer education, and to detect high-risk alcohol use. Moreover, this multidisciplinary and coordinated approach should help to boost communication between the different collectives involved when providing relevant information to tackle risky alcohol use from PC.