A training program for nursing staff to improve their knowledge and skills in the assessment of alcohol dependence syndrome- An evaluation

Introduction About one third of patients admitted to medical and surgical wards have alcohol dependence and related problems. Even though nurses working in general hospital settings were involved in the health care of these patients, they lack specialized knowledge in this area. Aim To study whether our educational package to the nurses would improve their knowledge on alcohol dependence syndrome and its management and to evaluate whether our nurses could be trained in administering CIWA Ar scale to assess the withdrawal symptoms.Method A workshop on alcohol dependence syndrome and related problems and the training on administration of CIWA-Ar scale were provided to a group of nurses. We conducted pre-test and post-test to assess change in their knowledge. We videotaped interview of patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome and the nurses individually rated those patients on CIWA-Ar scale. The interrater reliability of CIWA-Ar scale items was analysed by intra-class correlation co-efficient. Results The mean pre-test score was 18.53 (SD 4.502). Following the educational workshop on alcohol related disorders their mean score improved to 21.88 (SD 2.977). This difference was statistically significant with p value less than 0.05. The single measure intraclass correlation co-efficient was 0.898, indicating a high level of agreement for CIWA-Ar items.Conclusion The knowledge and skills of the nurses can be improved through a structured educational programme and by training they can reliably assess withdrawal symptoms using CIWA-Ar scale.