The adequacy of drinking history elicited by junior doctors in a teaching general hospital : an exploratory study.

We reviewed the case records of patients admitted to the medical, surgical and orthopaedic wards of a teaching general hospital to see whether junior doctors took an adequate drinking history from their patients. Results showed that in more than 50% of the case sheets examined, the resident doctors failed to document any details regarding alcohol consumption. Pattern of drinking was mentioned in 14% of the case records. Few case sheets carried details of alcohol related problems. Overall, interns were better than post-graduate students at documenting details of alcohol consumption among their patients. The junior doctors did not identify harmful drinking in 43% of their patients.