Table 1 BI 2.0 ideas for practitioners

Alcohol as a drug

○ Alcohol is a health harming drug that is often overlooked and is clinically relevant to all practitioner roles

○ Good practice necessarily requires discussion of alcohol, particularly in medications related work

○ Attention to alcohol can be integrated into routine consultations efficiently, allowing exploration of connections to medicines, conditions, adherence issues, and health more broadly

Avoid moralising in discussing alcohol

○ Invite people to talk about their drinking in their own terms

○ Help people to think through whether drinking affects medicine use, conditions and health, to understand and manage the risks for themselves

○ Ascertain willingness to discuss alcohol in daily lives and the influences that shape drinking patterns

○ Appreciate that alcohol may be very briefly focused on for many, and a lot for some, with life course perspectives relevant

○ Invite people to talk about their drinking in their own terms

Engage with alcohol issues in a person-centred manner

○ Appreciate that alcohol can be a difficult topic to raise in consultations for both parties, and can be raised in ways that avoid negative connotations

○ Do not push discussion of alcohol on to unwilling patients

○ Support patients in thinking further about, and making, decisions to improve their health and well-being by encouraging discussion of their concerns and priorities

○ Provide alternatives to unhelpful ways of thinking in addressing stereotypes, myths and stigma as opportunities arise