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Patients are generally hospitalized in acute care for a variety of problems ranging from multiple trauma to elective surgery or medical complications. Regardless of the patients admitting diagnosis, often patients who have a history of alcohol use or abuse, may also experience complications resulting from their withdrawal from alcohol. Withdrawal from alcohol can result in many problems from minor symptoms to severe symptoms of respiratory compromise and even death. It is imperative for nurses to recognize and appropriately treat the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal in the acute care setting. Unless given the appropriate tools to do this, recognition and treatment of symptoms of alcohol withdrawal may be subjective and treatment haphazardly administered. Alcohol dependence is a major public health problem. Alcohol has been identified as a cause of motor vehicle crashes, pancreatitis and other conditions. Approximately 20% of patients in acute care experience alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms can range from mild shakiness and tremors to hallucinations and seizures. Symptoms can be life threatening if not treated appropriately and in a timely manner. Symptoms of alcohol withdrawal typically present at 72 hours but can also occur as early as 5-10 hours after the last drink up to 7-10 days later. Implementation of evidence-based practice utilizing symptom-triggered management of alcohol withdrawal will be discussed in this session. The session will focus on implementation of an evidence-based program for management of patients with alcohol withdrawal. Included in this process was development of an innovative assessment tool in order to guide the management of patients experiencing alcohol withdrawal. Through the implementation of a process for early identification and symptom-triggered management of alcohol withdrawal, an improvement in patient outcomes, length of stay and a decrease in complications has been realized.