NURSING

The role of the adult nurse in an inter-professional context in the health promotion and prevention of disease

The role of the adult nurse in an inter-professional context in the health promotion and prevention of disease

Introduction

The alcohol misuse is referred to the health problems from excessive drinking habits among the people. It is one of the emerging problems in many countries of the world today. The past decade witnessed the increasing number people in alcohol consumption, especially the young people in the age-group of 11-17 years. The number of the people in the UK and other countries across the globe are expanding with alcohol-related diseases related to the social, psychological and health problems (Goodman, 2008). The situation demanded that nurses, patients and carers should individually address the alcohol misuse to promote and prevent the attached diseases from further expanding. The nurse, patient and carer have equal responsibility towards the society in addressing the alcohol misuse and strategies and steps need to tackle this problem (Cormack, 2002).

The nurses are large in numbers as compared to the patients and carers to address the issue and identify the potential resources of alcohol misuse through inter-professional role to screen and provide the brief interventions to the patients. Further, several studies have found that prevention of the alcohol misuse should be implemented to the young people, as alcohol consumption occur at relatively young age. Alcohol misuse is increasingly spreading in the young people and adolescents, which causes several psychological disorders in them. The society and parents are thus equally responsible as the carers to address the issue (Hinchcliffe, Norman & Schober, 2003). They are also responsible towards those people, who are caught with the alcohol-related diseases due to family history of alcohol consumption, early abuse of the alcohol at school and neighborhood, peer pressure, poor family environment, domestic violence and absence of the political and governmental regulations on the minimum age of alcohol intake. All these contemporary political and social issues impact the healthcare service to the nurses. Nurses are therefore, required much effort to address the issue and at the same time achieve the desired results through careful analysis without irritating those alcohol misuse patients and losing their attention.

Role of Nurses

There is a significant role of nurses in the health promotion and prevention of the alcohol misuse. The nurse has to knowledge enough about the drinking habits of the people and reasons of their excessiveness to provide the quality healthcare. According to the International Association of Forensic Nurses (2012), the nurses play an important role in the prevention of alcohol abuse the patients. Alcohol is very dangerous form of the drug that is widely used and abused. The nurse has to deal with the patients of almost all walks of the life. The problems of the alcohol are not just the health problems, but also have the social and psychological consequences on the life of the patient. No medical science has yet been advanced to provide the permanent treatment for the alcohol-related problems, as ...