As a health care provider, you are in a unique position to prevent, detect, and treat alcohol use in pre- and early adolescence. Health care professionals are also influential members of their communities who can speak knowledgeably about the damage done by underage drinking and ways early alcohol use can be prevented.

In this section you will find warning signs of a drinking problem, questions to ask yourself as a health care provider, and resources that include useful publications and helpful organizations. For additional information, see Statistics, Children's Health and Safety, Information For You, Prevention Practitioners, and What You Can Do, In the Health Care Setting.

As a health care provider, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I alert to signs of underage drinking during routine physical examinations and office visits and at times of medical emergencies?

• Do I promote the use of public spaces in health care settings to distribute educational literature?

• Do I use my knowledge and expertise about the dangers of alcohol to support community education and prevention programs regarding underage alcohol use?

Publications and Web sites

Addiction Search is a Web site with links to research-based resources for health consumers, addiction treatment professionals, educators, and researchers. The site includes sections for resources on children and adolescents issues, and a national database of rehabiltation and treatment centers.

The Adolescent Directory Online, Center for Adolescent Studies, Indiana University is an electronic guide to information on adolescent issues that provides resources for parents, educators, researchers, health practitioners, and teens.

The Alcohol and Other Drugs Web page contains links to organizations and government agencies that provide guidance on the prevention and treatment of substance use and addiction.

The Making the Link fact sheets contain current statistics on a variety of topics relating to underage drinking, including health and risky behavior issues. They were prepared by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration/Center for Substance Abuse Prevention to support the Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free initiative (PDF files):

Underage Drinking and the Developing Brain
Underage Drinking and Girls' Health
Underage Drinking and Mental Health
Underage Drinking and Risky Behavior
Underage Drinking and Violence

The Maternal and Child Health Library is a virtual guide to maternal and child health information including databases, publications, resource lists, Web links, the MCH Alert (an electronic newsletter), and other resources developed for health professionals, families, and consumers.  (National Center for Education in Maternal and Child Health at Georgetown University).

The MayoClinic.com: Alcohol and your Health Web site provides facts on the risks of alcohol to your health.

 The Mental Health Information Network (MHIN)Web site provides access to quality-filtered mental and physical health information to health professionals, consumers, students and others. The MHIN, a collaboration between  Boston University Alumni Medical Library and the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, is funded by the National Library of Medicine. 

Prevention and Physicians is one doctor’s statement about why physicians are natural allies for alcohol prevention efforts and his suggestions for getting physicians involved in community collaborations. (Fall 2000) (Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, Central Center for the Application of Prevention Technologies)

Tobacco, Alcohol, and Other Drugs: The Role of the Pediatrician in Prevention and Management of Substance Abuse, the policy statement of the American Academy of Pediatrics, (AAP) Committee on Substance Abuse, lists actions that pediatricians and others can take to prevent adolescent alcohol use.

The Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA) is an organization composed of physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, pharmacologists, dentists, and other professionals engaged in research related to substance use education, clinical service, and prevention. (Back issues of the journal Substance Abuse are available online.)

The American Society for Addiction Medicine (ASAM), the Nation's medical specialty society, is dedicated to educating physicians and improving the quality of treatment of individuals suffering from alcoholism and other addictions. It also supports a wide variety of measures to prevent alcohol-related problems.

Emergency Nurses Association is an organization of emergency nurses, who are in a unique position to identify situations and individuals involving substance abuse and initiate strategies for prevention, education, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems works with policymakers, employers, and concerned citizens, providing research-based information and tools to help curb health care and other costs associated with alcohol use, and improve access to treatment. (George Washington University Medical Center, supported by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts)

Good Therapy is an Australian online mental health resource in that provides guideance on finding therapy in the communities. This web site includes a Directory of Practitioners, Public Forum, Calendar of Workshops and Book Shop.

National Association of School Nurses (NASN) is a nonprofit, specialty nursing organization that represents school nurses exclusively. NASN's position on substance use is that school nurses initiate, participate in, and/or cooperate in school and community prevention and treatment activities designed to address problems of underage substance use.