You are about to perform a procedure with a colleague. They reach into their bag and take a sip of a bottle. When the bottle opens, you can clearly smell alcohol. You have five minutes to talk to this colleague and act. What do you do?

You want to approach a difficult situation like this confidently. Your ability to be direct and find a compromise, like removing the colleague from the situation, is vital as you answer this question.

"Pete, I can't help but notice that I smelled a strong whiff of alcohol in that bottle when you opened it, is everything alright? (allow time for response)

**IF THEY ARE HONEST WITH YOU** What do you think is the best thing to do in this situation? I'm not comfortable with you performing a procedure after drinking. I would love for you to take the rest of the afternoon off, and we can handle the procedure moving forward. I'd also love to talk further about this because I'm concerned about you.

**IF THEY ARE DISHONEST WITH YOU** Pete, would you mind if I see the bottle you took a drink of? I'm very concerned about performing a procedure if you have been drinking alcohol. (allow them to give you the bottle) Why don't you take the rest of the day off and we can talk later about this. Pete, I'm very concerned about you and want you to know that you can talk to me about anything as a colleague and friend.

My next approach would be to continue with the procedure as planned. Following that, I would ensure that I would follow any policies of the practice in reporting the drinking on the job. This behavior doesn't fly with me, and reporting would be a priority. But knowing that Pete is my friend and colleague, I would want to sit down with him and get to the root cause. If I suspected alcoholism, I would have a conversation with him to get the help he needs. If a personal problem was causing the need to drink, I would be a listening ear to help him."

As you role-play in this scenario, you'll want to start by making the colleague comfortable with your approach. Whether this is through small talk or beginning to discuss the procedure at hand is up to you. You'll then want to get directly to the issue by letting the colleague know you smelled alcohol in their bottle. You want to open the conversation and give them the option to determine the next steps. If they are unwilling to remove themselves from the procedure, you should make it clear that you would advise them to take the rest of the day off. Moving forward, whether immediately or later that day, you'll need to reiterate that having a conversation with your colleague about their state of mind and getting them help is important to you as a friend and colleague.