Prevalence of Chronic Inebriates to the Emergency Department and Suitability for Sobering House Services

Hennepin Healthcare

Status: Completed

Conditions: Alcohol Intoxication

Study type: Observational

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01783223

12-3560

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study is intended to evaluate the prevalence of chronically inebriated patients in the Emergeny Department (ED). Patients will be identified prospectively by screening all patients (24/7) presenting to the ED for one month. A running tally of all patients in the ED will be kept. Of these patients, any patient that is noted to have alcohol intoxication will be identified. The chart of that patient will be reviewed for details about the patient's alcohol use and for the patient's suitability for a sobering house, which is a place where intoxicated patients can go to await sobriety. The chart will also be reviewed for the number of previous visits for alcohol use to our hospital ever and in the last year.

Full description

For this cross-sectional study, all patients presenting to the ED of an urban, Level 1 trauma center for one month were prospectively screened by trained research associates. When an intoxicated patient was identified, study information including patient demographics, diagnoses, vital signs, blood alcohol concentration (BAC), GCS on arrival, ability to ambulate independently on arrival, use of physical or chemical restraint, previous ED visits, length of stay, and health insurance was collected. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics.

Enrollment: 668 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Patients in the emergency department for alcohol intoxication

Exclusion criteria

• Under 18
• Prisoners
• Pregnancy

Trial design

668 participants in 1 patient group

Intoxicated patients

Description:

patients in the Emergency Department who appear to be intoxicated with ethanol.