Alcohol withdrawal

Nurses involved in primary health care are called upon to assess the patient who may present with signs and symptoms of the alcohol withdrawal syndrome. The purposes of this article are to define the alcohol withdrawal syndrome in terms of its two major phases, to review the underlying pathophysiology of the clinical manifestations, to describe conditions and influences which complicate and/or aggravate the syndrome, and to provide the reader with a rational approach to assessment of a patient in acute alcohol withdrawal. The rationale for general treatment measures is briefly discussed.