Assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern Finland
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was twofold. The first aim was to explore how frequently physicians evaluate driving fitness when a patient has a serious alcohol problem, which is accomplished by examining differences in physicians’ compliance with their intervention/notification obligation...
Published in: | Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
SAGE Publications
2019
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434139/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32934579 https://doi.org/10.1177/1455072519828279 |
id |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7434139 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7434139 2023-05-15T17:00:24+02:00 Assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern Finland Kalsi, Juhani Tervo, Markku Tervo, Timo 2019-05-30 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434139/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32934579 https://doi.org/10.1177/1455072519828279 en eng SAGE Publications http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434139/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32934579 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1455072519828279 © The Author(s) 2019 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). CC-BY-NC Nordisk Alkohol Nark Research Reports Text 2019 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1177/1455072519828279 2020-09-20T00:17:44Z OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was twofold. The first aim was to explore how frequently physicians evaluate driving fitness when a patient has a serious alcohol problem, which is accomplished by examining differences in physicians’ compliance with their intervention/notification obligation among different alcohol-related ICD-10 diagnoses. The second aim was to explore how many heavy alcohol users have a valid driving license. METHODS: Data from all patients with an alcohol-related ICD-10 diagnosis code as a cause of a hospital visit were collected during a three-month period from Kuopio University Hospital and North Karelia Central Hospital. RESULTS: Eighty-one percent (81%) of patients with alcohol-related ICD-10 diagnoses were heavy alcohol users and had alcohol withdrawal syndrome, alcohol-related organ disease or multidrug abuse combined with alcohol abuse. The driving fitness of these patients was significantly reduced, and the health requirements of the driving license were not met. Physicians evaluated driving fitness for only 20% of alcohol-related hospital visits/hospitalisations. Moreover, fitness to drive was evaluated in only 24% of cases of a patient with a major alcohol problem and a valid driving license. Driving fitness was most frequently evaluated in cases with alcohol-related convulsions (74%). In total, 80% of patients with a major alcohol problem had a valid driving license even though the requirements of driving fitness were not met. CONCLUSIONS: The obligation to evaluate the driving fitness of heavy alcohol users is often neglected, except in cases of alcohol-abuse-related convulsions. Physicians should play a greater role in monitoring road safety, or sanctions should be set for failures to obey the obligations. The driving fitness of a patient hospitalised due to alcohol use should be assessed more regularly. Cognition problems related to alcohol-related liver disease/alcohol-related dementia are probably often overlooked. Alcohol-abuse-related conditions are poorly recognised ... Text karelia* PubMed Central (PMC) Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 36 5 460 469 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
language |
English |
topic |
Research Reports |
spellingShingle |
Research Reports Kalsi, Juhani Tervo, Markku Tervo, Timo Assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern Finland |
topic_facet |
Research Reports |
description |
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was twofold. The first aim was to explore how frequently physicians evaluate driving fitness when a patient has a serious alcohol problem, which is accomplished by examining differences in physicians’ compliance with their intervention/notification obligation among different alcohol-related ICD-10 diagnoses. The second aim was to explore how many heavy alcohol users have a valid driving license. METHODS: Data from all patients with an alcohol-related ICD-10 diagnosis code as a cause of a hospital visit were collected during a three-month period from Kuopio University Hospital and North Karelia Central Hospital. RESULTS: Eighty-one percent (81%) of patients with alcohol-related ICD-10 diagnoses were heavy alcohol users and had alcohol withdrawal syndrome, alcohol-related organ disease or multidrug abuse combined with alcohol abuse. The driving fitness of these patients was significantly reduced, and the health requirements of the driving license were not met. Physicians evaluated driving fitness for only 20% of alcohol-related hospital visits/hospitalisations. Moreover, fitness to drive was evaluated in only 24% of cases of a patient with a major alcohol problem and a valid driving license. Driving fitness was most frequently evaluated in cases with alcohol-related convulsions (74%). In total, 80% of patients with a major alcohol problem had a valid driving license even though the requirements of driving fitness were not met. CONCLUSIONS: The obligation to evaluate the driving fitness of heavy alcohol users is often neglected, except in cases of alcohol-abuse-related convulsions. Physicians should play a greater role in monitoring road safety, or sanctions should be set for failures to obey the obligations. The driving fitness of a patient hospitalised due to alcohol use should be assessed more regularly. Cognition problems related to alcohol-related liver disease/alcohol-related dementia are probably often overlooked. Alcohol-abuse-related conditions are poorly recognised ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Kalsi, Juhani Tervo, Markku Tervo, Timo |
author_facet |
Kalsi, Juhani Tervo, Markku Tervo, Timo |
author_sort |
Kalsi, Juhani |
title |
Assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern Finland |
title_short |
Assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern Finland |
title_full |
Assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern Finland |
title_fullStr |
Assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern Finland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern Finland |
title_sort |
assessment of driving fitness among patients with alcohol-related visits to two hospitals in eastern finland |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434139/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32934579 https://doi.org/10.1177/1455072519828279 |
genre |
karelia* |
genre_facet |
karelia* |
op_source |
Nordisk Alkohol Nark |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7434139/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32934579 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1455072519828279 |
op_rights |
© The Author(s) 2019 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1455072519828279 |
container_title |
Nordic Studies on Alcohol and Drugs |
container_volume |
36 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
460 |
op_container_end_page |
469 |
_version_ |
1766053065916416000 |