Ask, Advise, Assist – new guide for health professionals published by New Zealand Ministry of Health

The New Zealand Ministry of Health has released a new resource for primary health care providers called Alcohol and Pregnancy: A Practical Guide for Health Professionals.

The guide is intended to support primary care health professionals in a three-step intervention:

ask women who are planning a pregnancy or are pregnant if they are drinking alcohol

provide brief advice about not drinking alcohol when planning a pregnancy or when pregnant and explain why

assist women who are having difficulty stopping, or whose drinking is problematic, and refer them to a specialist addiction treatment service

The guide can be downloaded as a PDF here.

Reference:

Ministry of Health. (2010). Alcohol and Pregnancy: A practical

guide for health professionals. Wellington: Ministry of Health.