ABSTRACT
Alcohol in various forms has been made, traded, sold and used by humans for millennia. Alcohol was also used as an early anesthetic; its stupefying effects were relied on for hundreds of years until better anesthetic alternatives were developed in the mid-nineteenth century. Along the same timeframe, it can be assumed that people began to self-treat with various forms of alcohol for chronic pain, psychological disorders, depression, and other maladies, which continues to date, with no end in sight. A number of screening tools have been created, validated, and are routinely used to both identify those engaging in alcohol abuse and to recognize those who are the most prone to withdrawal and delirium tremens after admission to the hospital for pre-, intra-, and postoperative care. The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol scale's goal is to provide an efficient and objective means of assessing the need for treatment for alcohol withdrawal.
