Proactive Healthcare: Identifying Red Flags in Substance & Alcohol Abuse

It is estimated that over 10 percent of the general population suffers from an alcohol or substance abuse complications, either by abuse of prescription drugs or recreational drugs. While this 10 percent of the population may believe the complication is not apparent to their family and friends, many healthcare professionals are now trained in the ability to identify the "red flags" of a patient suffering from complications.

As a leading healthcare crisis, the abuse of prescription drugs, illegal drugs and even alcohol have reached record numbers in the last decade. Because the long term use of these abusive practices lead to complications involving other health conditions, many healthcare professionals are now working under a more proactive approach to healthcare; aiming to refer patients for assistance when indications are quite evident of a substance abuse complication.

Because complications of substance and alcohol abuse may be hidden from the patient's family and friends, the healthcare professional who engages in proactive healthcare must be prudent in the approach to the patient so as to not alienate the patient from receiving any form of treatment whatsoever. For this reason, the patient who abuses alcohol or other substances, must first be screening, inconspicuously, for the "red flags" of substance abuse and alcohol abuse. Such "red flags" might include changes in weight, sleep disorders, tremors, nasal and eye irritation, the development of COPD and even abnormal blood pressure fluctuations.

Of course, not all patients can be proactively diagnosed as having a drug or alcohol problem, especially those who are in the elderly population, children and even those with a co-morbid mental health complication. For this reason, the healthcare professional, when practicing proactive health care screenings, must be certain the "red flags" are true indicators of a substance or alcohol abuse complication before verbalizing the concerns with the patient.