Out-of-hospital management of unresponsive, apneic, witnessed opioid overdoses: a case series from a supervised consumption site

Abstract

Objectives: There are conflicting recommendations for lay rescuer management of patients who are unresponsive and apneic due to opioid overdose. We evaluated the management of such patients at an urban supervised consumption site. Methods: At a single urban supervised consumption site in Vancouver, BC, we conducted a retrospective chart review and administrative database linkage of consecutive patients who were unresponsive and apneic following witnessed opioid overdose between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2017. We linked these visits with regional hospital records to define the entire care episode, which concluded when the patient was discharged from the supervised consumption site, ED, or hospital, or died. The primary outcome was successful resuscitation, defined as alive and neurologically intact (ambulatory and speaking coherently, or alert and oriented, or Glasgow Coma Scale 15) at the conclusion of the care episode. Secondary outcomes included mortality and predefined complications of resuscitation. Results: We collected 767 patients, with a median age of 43 and 81.6% male, with complete follow-up on 763 patients (99.5%). All patients were managed with oxygen and ventilation (100%, 95% CI 0.995–1.0); 715 (93.2%, 95% CI 0.911–0.949) received naloxone; no patients underwent chest compressions (0%, 95% CI 0–0.005). All patients with complete follow-up were alive and neurologically intact at the end of their care episode (100%, 95% CI 0.994–1.0). Overall, 191 (24.9%) patients were transported to hospital, and 15 (2.0%) patients required additional naloxone after leaving the supervised consumption site; 16 (2.1%) developed complications, and 1 patient was admitted to hospital. Conclusions: At an urban supervised consumption site, all unresponsive, apneic patients with witnessed opioid overdose were successfully resuscitated with oxygen and/or naloxone. No patients required chest compressions.