Introduction: Any drinking of alcohol is risky and can lead to harmful consequences. Excessive drinking of alcohol can lead to premature death, disability, and toxic effects on the body. Harmful alcohol use is affected not only by the amount of alcohol consumed, but also by drinking patterns, age, gender, sensitivity to alcohol, time period of drinking alcohol, medications, and amount of food consumed. Purpose: In the graduation thesis we present effect of alcohol on physical and mental health and the role of a nurse in treatment of patients with excessive alcohol consumption. We also present the trend of alcohol consumption among youngsters. Methods: We used descriptive method with critical study of Slovenian and foreign literature, collected from August 2019 until December 2019, from databases CINAHL, PubMed, ScienceDirect and the Slovenian National Institute of Public Health. Results: The trend of all forms of alcohol consumption is decreasing. Youngsters tend to consume alcohol in episodes of excessive drinking, compulsively. Drinking at early age is spreading in Slovenia, among both boys and girls. The share of male drinkers is increasing, whereas females are increasingly more likely to abstain from it. More educated men are less prone to excessive alcohol consumption, whereas more educated and older women are more inclined to indulge in compulsory excessive drinking. Negative attitude of medical staff towards people with drinking problems negatively affect treatment of such individuals, and therefore success of their treatment. Discussion and conclusion: Regular drinking and risky patterns in most countries are on the downturn. Girls in Slovenia are approaching the share of intoxicated boys. In general, men in Slovenia and the EU drink alcohol more often than women. Women are more prone to alcohol when negative emotions are present. The environment in which a person lives plays an important role in the causes and course of alcohol consumption disorders. Promotion of health is important for all ages, the most for younger people. Nurses should be educated for communicating with patients suffering from addiction.
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