Antecedence to Injury | Illumination

Antecedence to Injury. Story by Alan Bavley.

In fact, at least among students, knowledge about responsible drinking is lacking, Vinson has found. After seeing a "Know When to Say When" bumper sticker on a beer truck, Vinson asked student patients what the phrase meant to them. "They said 'When I pass out,' 'When I throw up,' or 'When I can't find my way to the keg anymore.' Nobody said one or two drinks, or three or four drinks. Nobody had a fixed limit in mind," Vinson recalls.

Vinson says there are two "take-home messages" from his research. "First, it's changed my definition of 'moderate' drinking. Drinkers probably should be having just one or two drinks at a time, instead of three or four."

And the second message? "Maybe men should be more like women, at least in anger management," Vinson says. "Just look at the arrest reports in the newspapers. Violent crime is mostly perpetrated by men. The issue is not 'don't get angry,' but when you do get angry, 'what do you do?' "

Vinson is now pursuing a new alcohol research project. This time, his work was inspired by a group of Seattle researchers who found that giving injured adolescents a brief counseling session in the emergency room improved the odds that they would use seat belts and bicycle helmets in the future.

Working with MU medical student Adam Stevens, Vinson has been helping patients who come through the University Hospital emergency room with drinking problems to get counseling from a health educator or psychologist. They will follow up with these patients to see if they actually make an appointment and go through a counseling session.

Vinson has always focused his research on preventive medicine, helping doctors help their patients lead healthier lives. It's important work, but it may lack some of the glamour of high-tech medicine. He doesn't mind. "Somebody has to do the coronary bypass surgeries," he says. "But somebody also has to be talking to folks about stopping smoking, cutting back on drinking and getting more physical activity. There's lots left to be done."

It's an approach that has long impressed his colleagues such as Cheryl Cherpitel: "I have felt so many physicians in this field are those who have somewhat given up clinical practice for the allure of research," she says "Dan has always struck me as a physician first, who has managed to also obtain grants to carry out research which has both intellectual and clinical impact."

Vinson has confidence that patients can remake their lives for the better. He just has to recall how he flunked physical education as an undergraduate because he couldn't run 600 yards. He's fit enough now that he and his wife, Linda, completed a bicycle trip four years ago that spanned the continent, from Virginia to the state of Washington.

"I turned out OK," he says. "I know people can change."

Published by the Office of Research.