Improve severe alcohol withdrawal treatment by training doctors: B.C. study
VANCOUVER — There’s an urgent need to improve the treatment of severe alcohol withdrawal because too many patients are being admitted to hospital when they could be managed through outpatient services or by family doctors, says the lead author of a new study.
Dr. Evan Wood, executive director of the B.C. Centre on Substance Use, said family doctors and emergency departments could use a simple screening questionnaire to assess and diagnose patients before treatment is recommended.
The study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association reviewed 530 studies involving more than 71,000 patients.
Wood said St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver is the only hospital in Canada that uses the questionnaire, called the Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale, resulting in improved patient care and cost savings to the health-care system.