Skip to main content

The Healthcare Professional's

Core Resource on Alcohol

Knowledge. Impacts. Strategies.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

How to Apply The Core Resource on Alcohol in Clinical Practice

The Healthcare Professional’s Core Resource on Alcohol consists of 14 concise, practical articles created to help you deliver evidence-based alcohol healthcare. If you’re wondering where to begin, the “roadmap” below can help.

Roadmap for Applying the Core Resource

Here, we sort the Core articles broadly into “how-to content” and “context for care” to show how they could be applied in different aspects of your practice. This allows you to focus first on what’s now most important to you and your patients.

All articles offer free CME/CE credit for physicians, physician assistants, nurses, psychologists, and pharmacists. 

How-to content: Core articles that support a workflow for evidence-based alcohol healthcare

This 3-step workflow uses a self-report checklist for alcohol use disorder symptoms as an assessment tool. Your health system may use different tools for screening and assessment.

Step 1: Screen for Heavy Drinking

  • Use one of the following brief tools recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
    • NIAAA Single Alcohol Screening Question

      How many times in the past year have you had...
      4 or more drinks in a day? (for women)
      5 or more drinks in a day? (for men)

      A positive score for heavy drinking is 1 or more times in the past year.
    • The AUDIT-C

  • Do NOT use: The CAGE, which does not identify all patients who could benefit from a brief intervention

Step 2: Advise or Assess

If NO to heavy drinking

  • Single-day drink limit = 1 for women, 2 for men
  • Recommend abstinence when warranted.

If YES to heavy drinking

Step 3: Brief Intervention

If NO to AUD (0-1 symptom)

  • Ask permission: Start by setting the agenda to discuss alcohol use.
  • Give feedback and advice: Discuss the patient’s current drinking, related risks, and goals.
    • Link your concern about alcohol use with the patient’s relevant physical and mental health conditions and emphasize the benefits of cutting back.
    • Advise cutting down by staying within the U.S. Dietary Guidelines or abstaining as warranted.
    • Negotiate individualized drinking goals to include "no heavy drinking days" as needed.
  • Check in: Ask what the patient thinks of this information.
  • Build motivation: Briefly explore reasons for making a change, listening for the patient's own reasons.
  • Offer support: Express empathy and encourage autonomy.
  • Identify next steps: Work together to develop a plan for change.

If YES to AUD (2+ symptoms)

  • Ask permission: Start by setting the agenda to discuss alcohol use.
  • Give feedback and advice: Discuss the patient’s current drinking, related risks, and goals.
    • Inform them that you believe they have alcohol use disorder, that they can get better, and that you’re willing to help.
    • Link your concern about alcohol use with the patient’s other relevant physical and mental health conditions and emphasize the benefits of quitting.
    • Advise quitting by cutting down gradually. If the patient is hesitant to abstain, then negotiate individualized drinking goals.
    • Discuss treatment options. Consider prescribing an FDA-approved medication for AUD, providing a referral to specialty behavioral healthcare, and suggesting they try different mutual support groups. 
  • Check in: Ask what the patient thinks of this information.
  • Build motivation: Briefly explore reasons for making a change, listening for the patient's own reasons. Use their responses to the AUD symptom checklist (see Step 2) as an opener, if applicable.
  • Offer support: Express empathy and encourage autonomy.
  • Identify next steps: Work together to develop a plan for change.

At Next Visit, Continue Follow-Up

  • Revisit drinking goals.
  • Acknowledge change is difficult.
  • Affirm progress.
  • Explore challenges and strategies to surmount them.

Context for care: Core articles that support better care through deeper understandings

Last Revised
Looking for U.S. government information and services?
Visit USA.gov