Using a symptom-triggered approach to manage patients in acute alcohol withdrawal.

Nurses working in the medical-surgical setting routinely care for patients experiencing acute alcohol withdrawal. Symptom-triggered therapy using the revised Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment (CIWA-Ar) (Sullivan, Sykora, Schneiderman, Naranjo, & Sellers, 1989) is currently recommended. Scoring patient symptoms using the CIWA-Ar and educating staff nurses are keys to providing consistent management of a patient in acute alcohol withdrawal.