Acute poisoning as urgent cases and care measures

Abstract

Introduction: Patients with acute poisoning constitute 3-5% of patients treated by emergency physicians. Aim of the study: Display frequency, etiology of acute poisoning, factors affecting the outcome of treatment. Materials and methods: A retrospective, observational study enrolled patients who were treated by teams of the Emergency Medical Service Novi Sad (EMS) in the period from 1.1.2011 to 31.12.2011 due to acute poisoning, further diagnostics and therapy were implemented in the Emergency Center (EC). Results: In the period presented, 226 patients with symptoms of acute poisoning were taken care of. The average patient age was 37.1 years. 53.5% were male. The principal mode of toxins entry was oral (87.6%). Alcohol poisoning was present in 29.2%, benzodiazepines in 23.5%, the combination of alcohol and psychotropic drugs in 14.2% of cases. Prehospital, infusion therapy was initiated in 31%, Naloxone® was given in 10.6% and flumazenil (Anexate®) in 6.2% patients. After administration detoxication measures and observations 76.5% of patients were referred for psychiatric evaluation. 0.9% of cases had a fatal outcome. The treatment outcome depended on prehospital factors as follows: the causes of poisoning, blood pressure, oxygen level in capillary blood, the oxygen therapy and infusion therapy, application of advanced life support (ALS). Consciousness and application of ALS at admission EC also affected the outcome. Conclusion: Since successful treatment of acute intoxication depends on the quality of initial care, efficient access to EMS to identify causes and implement measures of non-specific treatment (provided the airway, infusion therapy, provocation of vomiting) is a good basis for further treatment at hospital level.