Older adult patient--doctor communication regarding alcohol use: A qualitative study

Prescribing or dispensing medication represents the best opportunity for GPs and pharmacists to engage older people in alcohol-related clinical conversations

“…[2,5] However, despite a range of international studies highlighting the feasibility and effectiveness of community pharmacists and GPs providing alcoholrelated health information to the general public, [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] most have focused on health professionals' experiences and perceptions, [1,6,8,14] with only a few investigating the public's views on acceptability and value of health information delivered through primary health care services, [6,9,10,13,15] and even less exploring older people's perspectives. [16,17] This is a significant gap, as there are physiological changes that occur with ageing that increase the risks associated with older people's use of alcohol. [18,19] In addition, older drinkers have a heightened risk of adverse alcohol-medication interactions.…”

“…General practitioners (GPs) and community pharmacists are well placed to provide information and advice on a range of health‐related topics to a diverse cross section of the community, and perform an important primary health care role . However, despite a range of international studies highlighting the feasibility and effectiveness of community pharmacists and GPs providing alcohol‐related health information to the general public, most have focused on health professionals’ experiences and perceptions, with only a few investigating the public's views on acceptability and value of health information delivered through primary health care services, and even less exploring older people's perspectives …”