Introduction:
Emergency Department (ED) is the facility through which patients are admitted to hospital, emergency procedures are performed and outpatient care provided. Medical staff in the ED are very often exposed to various risks posed by patients under the influence of alcohol.

Objective:
The aim of the study was to present the opinions of the staff in the Emergency Department concerning the provision of medical assistance to patients under the influence of alcohol, and attracting attention to the risk for medical staff, as well as the organization of work with these patients.

Material and methods:
The study included a group of 112 medical staff working in emergency departments in two hospitals in Rzeszów, conducted by the method of a diagnostic survey using an author-constructed questionnaire containing 26 items. The majority of respondents were females.

Results:
Aggression manifested by the patient, whether in the form of abusive language, insults, damage to and destruction of property, or even physical violence in most cases was associated with alcohol intoxication (according to 92% of respondents), the effect of psychoactive drugs, or mental disorders. Own safety was not the most important attitude of the medical staff towards aggressive patients (only 30.4% of respondents). It was not significant (61.3%) when and at what time a patient arrived at the Emergency Department under the influence of alcohol.

Conclusions:
Providing medical assistance to patients under the influence of alcohol was difficult for ED staff. The problem of patients intoxicated with alcohol admitted to the ED and the organization of work in contact with them require a lot of composure, effort, and calmness on the part of staff such as paramedics, nurses and physicians.