Decision for alcohol detoxication: a method to standardize patient evaluation.

We have presented a tested method of evaluation of the patient with acute alcohol intoxication and/or abstinence syndromes, which we recognize needs further modification and refinement. However, we wish to encourage continued development and standardization of an evaluation instrument that ultimately can become widely accepted. This should reduce the current confusion concerning the diagnosis, extent, and severity of the acute phase of alcohol dependence. If this can be accomplished, the questions (and the controversy) of drug vs non-drug and medical vs nonmedical treatment become moot; rather, a continuum of care will exist which is based on meaningful use and interdisciplinary communication of symptom severity as a foundation for rational treatment approaches.