Managing Alcohol Withdrawal Syndrome in Hospital Settings and Its Association With Length of Stay

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2025

Publication Title

Clinical Nurse Specialist

Abstract

PURPOSE/AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of alcohol withdrawal protocol (AWP) on critical care length of stay (LOS) and total hospital LOS in patients diagnosed with alcohol withdrawal syndrome. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort design was utilized to compare outcomes for patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome before and after the implementation of a standardized AWP. METHODS: Electronic health record data were collected on 89 patients with a primary or secondary diagnosis of alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Patients were categorized into AWP (n = 69) and non-AWP (n = 20) groups. Independent samples t tests were used to compare the mean critical care LOS and total LOS between the 2 groups. RESULTS: Descriptive statistics showed a numerically shorter average critical care LOS (2.38 vs 5.14 days) and total LOS (6.49 vs 7.20 days) in the AWP group compared to the non-AWP group. However, 2-tailed independent samples t-test results for both critical care LOS and total LOS were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol withdrawal protocol implementation resulted in a potential trend towards shorter hospital stays. Further research with larger sample sizes and a prospective design is needed to determine the impact of AWPs on patient outcomes.

First Page

254

Last Page

259

PubMed ID

41118501

Volume

39

Issue

6

Rights

© 2025 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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