Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol

The Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol (often called CIWA or CIWA-Ar (an updated version)), is a scale used to measure alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The scale lists ten common symptoms of alcohol withdrawal. Based on how bad a person's symptoms are, each of these is assigned a number. All ten numbers are added up to make one final score. The highest possible score is 67. Higher scores are a sign of more severe alcohol withdrawal:
The CIWA is used not just to measure how bad withdrawal symptoms are, but also to guide decisions about what treatments to give, like when to give benzodiazepines.
The CIWA Scale.
The CIWA measures ten of the most common signs and symptoms of alcohol withdrawal:
Uses.
The CIWA scale is validated, which means it is proven to measure what it means to measure - alcohol withdrawal symptoms. It also has high inter-rater reliability. This means that if more than one medical professional used the CIWA on the same patient, they would get very similar results. Validation and inter-rater reliability are signs of good, accurate tests. 
Studies have shown that when the CIWA scale is used to guide treatment: