Twaddell, Kimberly. Impact of an educational intervention on provider perspectives about the use of phenobarbital in the management of alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Published Doctor of Nursing Practice scholarly research project, University of Northern Colorado, 2023.
Alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) is a clinical diagnosis that occurs when an individual who regularly consumes alcohol either reduces or stops consumption. Complications of AWS include admission to the intensive care unit, prolonged hospitalization, and increased risk of infection and mortality. These complications might lead to poor patient outcomes and increased healthcare costs. Currently, the standard of care in managing this inpatient population includes supportive and pharmacological interventions with sedatives such as benzodiazepines. However, recent research found that a long-acting barbiturate, phenobarbital demonstrated superiority in reducing both hospital length of stay and progression of AWS symptoms when compared to benzodiazepines. Healthcare providers, such as advanced practice providers and physicians, are responsible for prescribing medications to manage AWS. However, without education about the recent research findings of phenobarbital, healthcare providers might be underutilizing phenobarbital in the management of this serious condition. The purpose of this Doctor of Nursing Practice scholarly project was to evaluate if an evidence-based educational intervention delivered to advanced practice providers and physicians at a level one trauma center would influence their knowledge, attitudes, and intention to use an existing phenobarbital order set for the management of AWS among the adult inpatient population. As guided by the knowledge attitude practice model, this study had a pre-posttest design with a virtually delivered iii
educational intervention based upon an integrated literature review that discussed the safety of phenobarbital and its superiority in the management of AWS among the inpatient population. The impact of the intervention was measured using a modified version of the Continuing Professional Development Reaction questionnaire
