JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The burden of alcohol use among trauma patients and the relative injury risks is not routinely measured in South Africa (SA). Given the prominent burden of alcohol on hospital trauma departments, SA needs practical, cost-effective and accurate alcohol diagnostic tools for testing, surveillance and clinical management of trauma patients.

Objective:

This study aims to validate alcohol diagnostics for injury-related trauma and assess its utility for improving national health practice and policy.

Methods:

The Alcohol Diagnostic Validation for Injury-Related Trauma (AVIRT) study will use mixed methods across three work packages. Four/five virtual focus Group Discussions will be conducted with six to eight key stakeholders each across four areas of expertise (clinical, academic, policy and operational) to determine the type of alcohol information that will be useful for different stakeholders in the injury prevention and healthcare sectors. We will then conduct a small pilot study followed by a validation study of alcohol diagnostic tools (clinical assessment, breath analysis, finger-prick blood) against enzyme immunoassay blood concentration analysis in a tertiary hospital trauma setting with 1000 patients. Finally, selected alcohol diagnostic tools will be tested in a district hospital setting with a further 1000 patients alongside community-based participatory research on the utility of the selected tools.

Results:

Data collection has been completed and we are currently analyzing data. We are also in the process of publishing results from our pilot study.

Conclusions:

Through this project we hope to identify and validate the most appropriate method(s) of diagnosing alcohol-related injury and violence in a clinical setting. Findings from this study are likely to be highly relevant and could influence our primary beneficiaries – policy makers and senior health clinicians – to adopt new practices and policies around alcohol testing in injured patients. Findings will be disseminated to relevant national and provincial government departments, policy experts and clinicians. Additionally, we will engage in media advocacy and with our stakeholders, including community representatives, and work through several non-profit partners to reach civil society organisations and share findings. In addition, we will publish findings in scientific journals.