A 'symptom-triggered' approach to alcohol withdrawal management

In acute hospital settings, alcohol withdrawal often causes significant management problems and complicates a wide variety of concurrent conditions, placing a huge burden on the NHS. A significant number of critical incidents around patients who were undergoing detoxification in a general hospital setting led to the need for a project to implement and evaluate an evidence-based approach to the management of alcohol detoxification-a project that included a pre-intervention case note audit, the implementation of an evidence-based symptom-triggered detoxification protocol, and a post-intervention case note audit. This change in practice resulted in an average reduction of almost 60% in length of hospital stay and a 66% reduction in the amount of chlordiazepoxide used in detoxification, as well as highlighting that 10% of the sample group did not display any signs of withdrawal and did not require any medication. Even with these reductions, no patient post-intervention developed any severe signs of withdrawal phenomena, such as seizures or delirium tremens. The savings to the trust (The Pennine Acute Hospital Trust) are obvious, but the development of a consistent, quality service will lead to fewer long-term negative effects for patients that can be caused by detoxification. This work is a project evaluation of a locally implemented strategy, which, it was hypothesised, would improve care by providing an individualised treatment plan for the management of alcohol withdrawal symptoms. © 2014 MA Healthcare Ltd

Drinking behaviour and alcohol-related harm amongst older adults: analysis of existing UK datasets.

Older adults experience age-related physiological changes that increase sensitivity and decrease tolerance to alcohol and there are a number of age-related harms such as falls, social isolation and elder abuse, which are compounded by alcohol misuse. Despite this unique vulnerability and the fact that the number of older adults is increasing, the literature on drinking behaviour and alcohol-related harm in older adults is sparse. This article describes a secondary analysis of UK data to address this knowledge gap

Alcohol service provision for older people in an area experiencing high alcohol use and health inequalities

UK society is ageing. Older people who drink alcohol, drink more than those from previous generations, drink more frequently than other age groups and are more likely to drink at home and alone. Alcohol problems in later life however are often under-detected and under-reported meaning older people experiencing alcohol problems have high levels of unmet need

Alcohol and Substance Misuse in the Construction Industry

The study investigates the factors contributing to the menace of Alcohol and Substance Misuse (ASM) in the construction industry, and its mitigation. Sequential exploratory mixed method design, involving interview and questionnaire were used for collecting data that were subsequently analysed using thematic analysis, factor analysis and Kruskal-Wallis test. Findings suggest that the problem of ASM is largely caused and exacerbated by mental strain, site working conditions, male dominance and ineffective HR management. Screening and educational approaches were confirmed as the carrot and stick methods for mitigating the menace in the construction industry. The finding implies that by making construction companies more accountable for the wellbeing of their workers, a change could be brought in the industry. These changes could be incentivised by initiatives like PREVENT to mitigate the crisis currently endemic in construction. The study suggests some practical measures for tackling the menace of ASM that is bedevilling the constructio

Factsheet: Alcohol, crime and disorder in the night-time economy

The rapid expansion in recent years of the night-time economy (NTE) - now an important part of the leisure, tourism and service industries - raises serious crime and public health concerns

Mental Health and Alcohol Misuse Project Factsheet : the Mental Health National Framework Service

Includes bibliographical references. Title from coverAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:m03/10664 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreSIGLEGBUnited Kingdo

Evaluation of Alcohol Concern's Grants Programme for black projects

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:q97/05877 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

100% proof Research for action on alcohol

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m02/38448 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Alcohol's on everyone's lips

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:m01/21970 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo