Study offers a detailed insight into the homeless patients addicted to alcohol -
A phenomenological study offers a detailed insight into the homeless patients, dependent on the 'alcohol often stigmatized by the public and policy makers that the drains on the health care system, showing the constellation of reasons why they are unable to escape social circumstances which perpetuate and aggravate their problems. The study, published online yesterday in Annals of Emergency Medicine , was conducted at Bellevue Hospital in New York, which has a long history of service to the indigent population of the city.
"One hundred percent of the patients enrolled in the study began to drink alcohol that children become addicted to alcohol soon after," said author of the study Ryan McCormack, MD from New York University School of Medicine in New York, NY "for people who have homes and jobs, it is difficult to imagine the level of desperation of these people live from day to day, or the development of all consumers on getting the next drink that replaces the instinct even the most basic of human survival. most do not come to my ER voluntarily but end there because of public drunkenness. the majority patients in this study still left the hospital before the end of medical care. "
Dr. McCormack and his team interviewed 20 homeless patients with alcohol dependence who had four or more annual visits emergency department of Bellevue hospital for two consecutive years. It all started drinking in childhood or adolescence, and 13 reported having alcoholic parents. Thirteen patients reported abuse in their childhood home. Nineteen were either forced or chose to leave home by 18. One was married. None of the subjects was used. The three who were military veterans said that the military boosted their alcohol consumption.
Alcoholism has been cited as the main reason for living in the street. Eleven patients had definitive psychiatric diagnosis in psychosis, mood or anxiety spectra. All 20 reported having concluded detoxification programs at some point in the past. In one year, to be interviewed for this study, a quarter of the patients had died directly of their liver or alcoholism result of lung cancer, trauma vehicles, assault or hypothermia.
"As their ability to envision a future decrease, they lose more and more motivation for personal recovery," said Dr. McCormack. "An alcoholic is first a human being. We assume that low barrier, more accessible interventions, patient-centered that support the reduction of harm from alcohol and quality of life improvement can be reflected in the emergency department and this population. "
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