By anonymous questionnaires, the approaches to alcohol of 376 nursing students attending the last year of nursing schools were assessed. In addition, the student’s active attitude towards alcohol was evaluated. Although most of the respondents mentioned the problems associated with alcohol abuse (95 %) and the negative approaches of the general public (84 %), most of them associated drinking with a pleasant course of parties: high spirits (88 %), entertainment (62 %), friendliness (74 %) and easy communication (51 %). While drinking beer was mostly evaluated negatively, drinking spirits was frequently associated with social events and entertainment and evaluated positively. Only 10 % students had not used any alcoholic drinks in the previous 6 months while 46 % of future nurses had used a higher amount of alcohol resulting in intoxication. Almost 6 % students stated that they had been driven by somebody under the inf1uence of drink or other drugs. The results show that even the special medical education at nursing schools underestimates the impact of alcohol that represents an important social, medical, economic and political problem.

Key words: alcohol (ab)use – adolescents attitudes – association of beliefs – driving the influence of drink