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

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.