Evaluation of the Standardised Nurse-led Approach for Risk Screening and Decrease of Alcohol Withdrawal Among Adult Inpatients With Alcohol Dependence in an Ear, Nose, Throat and Jaw Surgery Department

In ear, nose, throat (ENT) and jaw surgery departments, up to 60% of patients suffer from alcohol dependence (Allen et al., 2009), and may develop an alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) when undergoing sur-gery. Caring for these patients creates a major challenge for all persons involved: Health care staff is not only challenged by the primary illness but also by increased risk of life-threatening complications (infection, bleeding, cardiopulmonary dysfunction, impaired wound healing, re-operation), higher mortality rate, and longer duration of hospitalization due to preoperative alcohol use and the development of an AWS (Delgado-Rodriguez, Gomez-Ortega, Mariscal-Ortiz, Palma-Perez, & Sillero-Arenas, 2003; Eyer et al., 2011; Foy, Kay, & Taylor, 1997; Genther & Gourin, 2012; Kuo et al., 2008; Mayo-Smith et al., 2004; McCusker, Cole, Abrahamowicz, Primeau, & Belzile, 2002; Neyman, Gourin, & Terris, 2005; O'Brien et al., 2007). Moreover, nearly five percent of all patients with an AWS develop an alcohol withdrawal delirium (AWD) which, without any therapy, will end lethally in 15% of all cases. With adequate medical and other interventions lethality is about two percent (Diener, 2003; Wright, Myrick, Henderson, Peters, & Malcolm, 2006). Additionally, the occurrence of an AWS and / or AWD represents a threatening, time-intensive and complex situation for family members (Repper-DeLisi et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2012).

Since 2011, in addition to patients undergoing short-term surgery, also patients with oncological diagnoses are hospitalized in the ENT and Jaw Surgery Department at the University Hospital Basel (USB). These patients are in need of prolonged surgical treatments and resulting longer periods of abstinence from food and drink, including alcohol and other substances, increase the risk of alcohol withdrawal. For instance, in the ENT and Jaw Surgery Department, in 2011, 74 out of 910 inpatients were at risk for or already experienced an AWD and 47 of them needed permanent supervision to guarantee their safety. Bridging the period of abstinence by drinking alcohol pre- and postoperatively is a suboptimal option for these patients due to the relatively long surgical treatment. This situation called for action: based on positive experiences within the dementia-delirium-programme of USB (Hasemann & Pretto, 2006), an evidence-based approach to screen for, detect and treat AWS and / or AWD in ENT and jaw surgery patients was developed and implemented (Hasemann, 2013). Now, this new approach needs to be evaluated.