Assessment of Pharmacological Treatment Quality: Comparison of Symptom-triggered vs. Fixed-schedule Alcohol Withdrawal in Clinical Practice.
Pharmacopsychiatry
; 49(5): 199-203, 2016 Sep.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-27101233
ABSTRACT
Introduction:
Despite the fact, that symptom-triggered alcohol withdrawal treatment is recommended by German guidelines on alcoholism, many hospitals continue to use fixed-schedule protocols, as they have been successfully applied for many years.Methods:
This retrospective study compared all patients' records of alcohol withdrawal treatment from October 2010 to November 2011 at Magdeburg's University Department of Psychiatry (n=120). A symptom-triggered protocol with clomethiazole (AESB, n=46) was used in parallel with the existing fixed-schedule protocol with diazepam (n=74).Results:
The symptom-triggered group showed less need of pharmacological treatment duration (p<0.001) and cumulative dosage of medication compared to the fixed-schedule protocol (p<0.006). No difference was observed regarding the need of clonidine or haloperidol (to treat blood pressure derailment or delirium) and the incidence of epileptic seizures.Discussion:
Based on the shorter treatment duration and a similar rate of complications our department has switched to the symptom-triggered protocol to improve the quality of patient care.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Chlormethiazole
/
GABA Modulators
/
Alcohol-Induced Disorders
/
Diazepam
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Guideline
/
Observational_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Pharmacopsychiatry
Year:
2016
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Germany