Abstract
Injury and alcohol are strongly associated. Patients admitted to trauma centers are frequently intoxicated. Many of those patients require identification and treatment of an underlying drug use problem, most commonly alcoholism. Admission to the trauma center provides clinicians with an opportunity to accomplish that task, which should lead to significant reduction in illness and death secondary to injury. To date, the primary emphasis of trauma center care for alcoholic patients has focused on the treatment of physical injuries. The potential to prevent future injury by identifying and treating alcoholism and other drug problems, however, has been largely ignored.