Improving Alcohol Withdrawal Outcomes in Acute Care

Improving alcohol withdrawal outcomes in acute care.

CONTEXT Excessive alcohol consumption is the nation's third leading cause of preventable deaths. If untreated, 6% of alcohol-dependent patients experience alcohol withdrawal, with up to 10% of those experiencing delirium tremens (DT), when they stop drinking. Without routine screening, patients often experience DT without warning. OBJECTIVE Reduce the incidence of alcohol withdrawal advancing...

Acute alcohol withdrawal and free flap mandibular reconstruction outcomes.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of acute postoperative alcohol withdrawal on survival of vascularized fibular grafts for mandibular reconstruction. DESIGN Retrospective case series of 17 consecutive patients. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURE Relation between flap survival and alcohol withdrawal. RESULTS Flap survival rate was 25% for patients who experienced delirium tremens and 85% in the other pa...

Improving Nursing Knowledge of Alcohol Withdrawal

Christiana Care Health System implemented a Care Management Guideline for Alcohol Withdrawal Symptom Management, which provided direction for inpatient screening for alcohol withdrawal risk, assessment, and treatment. Nurses educated on its use expressed confusion with the use of the assessment tools, pharmacokinetics, and pathophysiology of alcohol withdrawal and delirium tremens. Reeducation ...

Alcohol withdrawal in the critical care unit.

Managing acute alcohol withdrawal in critical care presents a unique challenge to the critical care nurse. The prominence of alcohol use within the Australian community means that many critical care admissions involve acute alcohol withdrawal, an alcohol induced illness, or indeed an unrelated admission with underlying heavy alcohol intake. Current statistics suggest 1 in 5 Australians drink to...

Acute Alcohol Withdrawal and Delirium Tremens