Treatment response and safety of ambulatory medical detoxication.

An ambulatory medical detoxication program for alcoholics with limited social and environmental supports is described. The treatment response of all 49 patients who underwent treatment and the short-term outcome and safety of 15 patients (31%) who failed to complete treatment are reviewed. Treatment completers were found to attend over 90% of their scheduled daily appointments and drinking during the treatment term was infrequent. The average duration for completed treatments was approximately 5 appointment days. Treatment noncompleters also attended their scheduled appointments regularly prior to discontinuation and, except for several patients who were transferred to inpatient treatment because of continued drinking, drinking during detoxication was relatively infrequent. The short-term outcome and safety of treatment noncompleters was reviewed. No instance of serious medical or psychiatric consequences following discontinuation from treatment was revealed. It was concluded that discontinuation of treatment by a patient is not in all cases indicative of a poor outcome. It was further concluded that ambulatory medical detoxication is a relatively successful treatment for mild to moderate alcohol withdrawal symptomatology and for patients not requiring immediate medical or psychiatric attention.