Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

The ability to screen for, diagnose and, in many cases, manage alcohol use disorder (AUD) in the outpatient setting is within the scope of Canadian primary care providers (PCPs). Alcohol-related harms have substantial impacts on both the individual and greater society. While evidence-based recommendations for identification and management of AUD exist, data is sparse provincially and nationally on how these recommendations are employed and what barriers exist to them being implemented. Additionally, recent studies have shown that AUD pharmacotherapy is critically under-utilized. Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) reports the highest per capita alcohol consumption and the highest per capita rates of heavy drinking. Despite these grim statistics, there are no studies exploring how PCPs in NL approach AUD or what barriers exist to the management of AUD. This is a critical time for this research as NL released in July 2022 the Provincial Alcohol Action Plan, and both first-line pharmacotherapy options for AUD are now open benefit under the provincial drug formulary. This means more patients are eligible to access these medications. This proposed study consists of the development and distribution of a survey to PCPs across NL to understand how AUD is identified and managed - including comfort level and barriers to prescribing pharmacotherapy. Then, through collaboration with the NL Centre for Health Information, eDOCSNL, and the NL Prescription Drug Program, I will gather and analyze data on the prescription of AUD pharmacotherapy and the diagnosis of AUD at sites participating in the provincial EMR. Results will help identify areas to support PCPs with AUD identification and management, as well as to provide a picture of AUD and sociodemographic characteristics across NL.