Study objective: To characterize national hospital practices for treating patients with ethanol for alcohol withdrawal syndrome. Design: Cross-sectional survey Setting: A 9-item survey conducted via telephone or email. Participants: Physician, clinical pharmacist or clinical dietitian from 117 academic medical centers located within the United States. Measurements and main results: Data were collected between August and October 2014. Hospitals ranged in size from 160-3,098 beds (mean 659). Of the 117 institutions that were contacted, 88 (75.2%) responded. Ethanol is administered at 31 (35.3%) of responding institutions. Yet, no protocol is in place to facilitate ethanol administration in 23 of the 31 medical centers (74%). The Department of Pharmacy is responsible for procurement and distribution of the ethanol in 27 (87%) of these medical centers. Conclusions: Over one-third of surveyed academic medical centers in the United States continue to dispense ethanol to patients despite a lack of established guidelines regarding ethanol administration for alcohol withdrawal syndrome. The vast majority do so without an institutional protocol or policy.