Whether the reductions in alcohol consumption and traffic citations were a result of the crash, hospitalization for injury, screening for alcohol use, or combination of these factors is difficult to determine. Further work is needed to understand the mechanisms involved in reductions of health-related outcomes and the role of brief intervention in this population.

This study determined the effectiveness of motivational interviewing (MI) to decrease prenatal alcohol use, while examining mechanisms of behavior change based on self-determination theory that may have evoked decreases in drinking behaviors. In all, 67 pregnant women who reported previous-year alcohol use were randomly assigned to an MI intervention or comparison group, with 56 women completing all study procedures. Both groups were assessed at baseline and 4- to 6-week follow-up for alcohol use and mechanisms of behavior change (basic psychological needs satisfaction and autonomous motivation). Only the MI group received the intervention after baseline assessments. Although MI was not found effective in decreasing prenatal drinking behaviors in this study, nonspecific factors were identified, such as treatment structures, participant motivation for improvement, and provider qualities, which may have influenced these results. More research is needed to determine theory-based specific and nonspecific factors that drive effective nursing interventions to decrease alcohol use during pregnancy.

One hundred and twenty-three Ohio employers were surveyed about expectations for occupational health nurse performance of 20 current and desired future activities. Employers identified activities that (a) the nurse was currently performing, or (b) would be desired in the future, or (c) were not appropriate for the nurse. Findings showed occupational health nurses are counseling employees, treating illness and injury, evaluating safe return to work, and tracking workers' compensation cases. Activities most desired in the future are analyses of trends in health programs and study of cost-effective health program alternatives. Activities most frequently selected require skills of evaluation, budgeting, and cost-benefit analysis. Most occupational health nurses have not had the opportunity to learn skills of fiscal management; therefore meeting employer expectations will require new education.

Alcohol (ethanol) use is a global, health-related problem that spans a continuum ranging from low-risk, at-risk, and problem drinking to alcohol dependence and chronic abuse. Clinicians and researchers alike have the need to quantify drinking patterns to determine the risk for adverse, health-related events such as injury, liver damage, and cancer Biochemical measures of ethanol consumption are affected by temporal patterns of drinking as well as individual characteristics such as gender and age. The choice of a laboratory analysis to determine ethanol consumption is complex; no single laboratory test will predict drinking accurately across all drinking patterns, across the life span, and across gender. In conjunction with interviews and physical assessment, however, biochemical laboratory tests are sensitive tools used to measure both recent and long-term patterns of alcohol consumption.

Globally, a paradigm shift has occurred in the field of alcohol and health from treatment of alcoholism to reducing at-risk drinking. The purpose of this study was to determine if schools of nursing include content reflective of the new paradigm in their Bachelor of Science in Nursing curricula. This was a cross-sectional electronic survey of schools of nursing to determine the mean number of alcohol-related content hours presented, the content offered, and the inclusion of strategies aimed at reduction of at-risk drinking such as screening and brief intervention. The schools (n = 66) reported a mean of 11.3 hours of alcohol-related content, with most of the content related to the treatment of alcohol dependence. Less than 10% required competency in screening and brief intervention. This gap in Bachelor of Science in Nursing curricula carries serious implications in that nurses may not have the knowledge and competencies needed to provide interventions to patients with at-risk alcohol use.