Teaching medical students about alcohol.

of the family.9 Specific skills are required from general practitioners, a variety of hospital specialists, nurses, social workers, school and hospital teachers, and staff in other disciplines. Inevitably there will be areas of overlap in what each group legitimately regards as its territory; without effective communication and coordination the family mem- bers may well find themselves overburdened by too many people interfering in some aspects of their lives while in other critical areas they are left unsupported. This is particularly true of school, a most important aspect of the lives of both patients and siblings that has received insufficient attention in the past.