The attitudes of Polish nurses towards patients with alcohol-related problems and the subsequent impact on care delivery

Aim. To analyse the attitudes of nursing staff towards patients with co-occurring alcohol problems.

Material and methods. The study was conducted among 120 nurses working in a tertiary hospital in the Podbeskidzie region (Poland). A diagnostic survey was used with self-administered questionnaire as the research tool.

Results. The number of 93.3% of the respondents confirmed that they had addicts among their patients. The respondents believe that the education and social status of addicted patients (41.8%) and their gender (54%) are important in the way they are treated by medical staff and affect the quality of service provided. The attitudes and feelings of the respondents, when caring for patients with co-occurring alcohol problems, are most often negative or indifferent.

Conclusions. In clinical reality, there is stigmatization and a rather unfavourable or indifferent attitude towards patients with an accompanying alcohol problem. Nursing staff find working with an alcoholic challenging and do not treat patients with co-existing alcohol use disorder on an equal footing with patients suffering from other disease entities.