The Approach to the Patient with an Unknown Overdose
| Autor: | Jenny J. Lu, Trevonne M. Thompson, Timothy B. Erickson |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2007 |
| Předmět: |
Emergency Medical Services
medicine.medical_specialty Abdominal pain Resuscitation medicine.diagnostic_test business.industry Poisoning Antidotes Physical examination Drug overdose medicine.disease Altered Mental Status Intensive care Emergency Medicine medicine Vomiting Humans Drug Overdose medicine.symptom business Intensive care medicine Depression (differential diagnoses) |
| Zdroj: | Emergency Medicine Clinics of North America. 25:249-281 |
| ISSN: | 0733-8627 |
| Popis: | Toxic overdose can present with various clinical symptoms, including abdominal pain, vomiting, tremor, altered mental status, seizures, cardiac dysrhythmias, and respiratory depression. These may be the only clues to diagnosis when the cause of toxicity is unknown at the time of initial assessment and management. The diagnosis may be complicated by the possibility of a multiple-drug ingestion. The prognosis and clinical course of recovery of a patient poisoned by a specific agent depends largely on the quality of care delivered within the first few hours in the emergency setting. Fortunately, in most instances, the drug or toxin can be quickly identified by a careful history, a directed physical examination, and commonly available laboratory tests. Attempts to identify the poison should never delay life-saving supportive care, however. Once the patient has been stabilized, the physician needs to consider how to minimize the bioavailability of toxin not yet absorbed, which antidotes (if any) to administer, and if other measures to enhance elimination are necessary [1]. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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