Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38796808›Full record

ArticleCJEM2024

Replacing the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment-Alcohol revised with the modified Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale for alcohol withdrawal to support management of alcohol withdrawal symptoms: potential impact on length of stay and complications.

Jane de Lemos, Mazen Sharaf, Susanne Moadebi, Sophie Low-Beer, Brighid Cassidy, Jason M Sutherland, Christine Deziel, Sree Nagendran

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Article in CJEM, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Jane de LemosBCCancer Provincial (Pharmacy), 750-600 W Broadway, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Jane.delemos@bccancer.bc.ca.ORCID 0000-0003-0088-6895
Mazen SharafFaculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Susanne MoadebiUniversity of British Columbia (Pharmacist Clinic), Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Sophie Low-BeerRichmond Hospital (Emergency Medicine), Richmond, BC, Canada.
Brighid CassidyLions Gate Hospital (Emergency Medicine), North Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Jason M SutherlandCentre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.ORCID 0000-0002-1857-2432
Christine DezielRichmond Hospital (Drug and Alcohol Resource Team), Richmond, BC, Canada.
Sree NagendranRichmond Hospital (Drug and Alcohol Resource Team), Richmond, BC, Canada.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeWe evaluated impact on length of stay and possible complications of replacing the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment-Alcohol Revised (CIWA-Ar) scale with a slightly modified Richmond Agitation and Sedation Scale (mRASS-AW) to support managing patients admitted with alcohol withdrawal symptoms in a community hospital. Since mRASS-AW is viewed as easier and quicker to use than CIWA-Ar, provided use of mRASS-AW does not worsen outcomes, it could be a safe alternative in a busy ED environment and offer an opportunity to release nursing time to care.

methodsRetrospective time-series analysis of mean quarterly length of stay. All analyses exclusively used our hospital's administrative discharge diagnoses database. During April 1st 2012 to December 14th 2014, the CIWA-Ar was used in the ED and in-patient units to guide benzodiazepine dosing decisions for alcohol withdrawal symptoms. After this point, CIWA-Ar was replaced with mRASS-AW. Data was evaluated until December 31st 2020. PRIMARY OUTCOME: mean quarterly length of stay. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: delirium, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, other post-admission complications, mortality.

resultsN = 1073 patients. No association between length of stay and scale switch (slope change 0.3 (95% CI - 0.03 to 0.6), intercept change, 0.06 (- 0.03 to 0.2). CIWA-Ar (n = 317) mean quarterly length of stay, 5.7 days (95% 4.2-7.1), mRASS-AW (n = 756) 5.0 days (95% CI 4.3-5.6). Incidence of delirium, ICU admission or mortality was not different. However, incidence of other post-admission complications was higher with CIWA-Ar (6.6%) than mRASS-AW (3.4%) (p = 0.020).

conclusionsThis was the first study to compare patient outcomes associated with using mRASS-AW for alcohol withdrawal symptoms outside the ICU. Replacing CIWA-Ar with mRASS-AW did not worsen length of stay or complications. These findings provide some evidence that mRASS-AW could be considered an alternative to CIWA-Ar and potentially may provide an opportunity to release nursing time to care.

Indexed as

Length of StaySubstance Withdrawal SyndromeAdultAgedAlcohol Withdrawal DeliriumFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPsychomotor AgitationRetrospective StudiesAlcohol withdrawal symptomsClinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment—Alcohol revisedNursing time allocationRichmond Agitation and Sedation Scale

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.