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N Das Gupta

Publications and source records attributed to N Das Gupta.

2 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Detection of alcohol misusing patients in accident and emergency departments: the Paddington alcohol test (PAT)

OBJECTIVE: To develop an effective but practical screening questionnaire for use by accident and emergency (A&E) staff to detect alcohol misuse early on in its natural history, without unreasonably prolonging patient waiting times; and to integrate an alcohol health worker (AHW) into A&E to provide counselling for referred patients. METHODS: Two pilot studies for adult patients were undertaken to develop the 1 min Paddington alcohol test (PAT), which has only three compulsory questions for detecting alcohol misuse: two cover peak consumption and frequency of possible binge drinking, and the third asks whether in the patients' view their attendance at A&E was alcohol related. The use of the PAT was validated in "appropriate" adult patients over a one year period. Patients found to be positive were invited to attend the A&E review clinic for counselling by the AHW. RESULTS: The development of the PAT resulted in a referral rate of one patient per 158 A&E adult attenders, facilitating a counselling rate of one patient per 263 A&E adult attenders by the AHW. This counselling rate is a 10-fold increase on the rate of one patient per 2610 adult attenders found in a study undertaken during 1988-90. CONCLUSIONS: The use of the PAT is one practical method for A&E staff to detect the alcohol misusing patient for referral to a departmental alcohol health worker.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Evaluating the drug dependency unit.

An evaluation of the St Mary's Drug Dependency Unit is described. Unit staff were interviewed and a retrospective analysis of 156 records was performed. The advent of HIV infection has led to an emphasis on public health priorities in the treatment of drug misuse. However, DDU staff retain a highly individualistic approach to their work. Staff aiming at abstinence within treatment may compromise important advice on harm minimization. The mean delay between first contact and entering treatment was 10 days; 42% of clients failed to complete the initial assessment. The need to extend access to the service is not easy to reconcile with the increasingly specialised support role for such units implied in recent strategy documents. Little is known of the effectiveness of different services for drug misusers. In this study, only 6% of clients were known to have achieved abstinence at one year. The efficiency of the DDU could be improved by closer definition of the unit's goals and target population, regular progress reviews, shortening the assessment procedure and the computerisation of data collection.

Adult↗