Interactive Ready for Review: Interactivities

Interactive Ready for Review for Chapter 23 - Poisonings and Overdose Emergencies

act acutely or chronically to destroy or impair body cells. If you believe a patient may have taken a poisonous substance, you should notify medical control and begin emergency treatment at once. This may include administration of an , usually at the hospital, if an %%2%% exists. It also entails collecting any evidence about the type of poison that was used and taking it to the hospital; diluting and physically removing the poisonous agent; providing respiratory support; and transporting the patient promptly to the hospital.

A poison can be introduced into the body in one of four ways: ingestion, inhalation, injection, or absorption (surface contact). Approximately 80% of all poisonings are by , including plants, contaminated food, and most drugs. In general, should be used to treat patients who have ingested these substances.

In the case of surface contact poisons, be sure to avoid contaminating yourself. You should then remove all contaminated substances and clothing from the patient, and flood the affected part with copious amounts of water.

Move patients who have poison into the fresh air; be prepared to use supplemental oxygen via nonrebreathing mask and to provide ventilatory support via a bag-valve-mask device.

Emergency care may be needed for some patients, especially those who have poison, which is almost always a deliberate act.

People who frequently abuse a substance can develop a to it, which may lead to addiction. Always use body substance isolation precautions when caring for victims of drug abuse.

In addition to alcohol and marijuana, commonly abused drugs fall into seven categories: opioid analgesics, sedatives-hypnotics, inhalants, sympathomimetics, hallucinogens, anticholinergics, and cholinergics. Like alcohol, drugs in the first three categories depress the CNS and can cause . You must support the airway in such cases and be prepared for the patient to vomit.

Take special care with patients who have used , since the drugs may cause seizures. Sympathomimetics, including cocaine, stimulate the CNS, causing hypertension, tachycardia, seizures, and dilated pupils. These patients may be paranoid, as may patients who have taken hallucinogens.

medications, often taken in suicide attempts, can cause a person to become hot, dry, blind, red-faced, and mentally unbalanced. An overdose of cyclic antidepressants can lead to cardiac arrhythmias.

The symptoms of cholinergic medications, which include organophosphate insecticides, can be remembered by the mnemonic DUMBELS or SLUDGE, for excessive defecation, urination, miosis, bronchorrhea, emesis, lacrimation, and salivation.

Two main types of food poisoning cause symptoms. In one type, bacteria in the food directly cause disease, such as salmonellosis; in the other, bacteria such as Staphylococcus produce powerful toxins, often in leftover food.

The most severe form of food poisoning is , which can first produce neurologic symptoms as late as 4 days after ingestion.

Plant poisoning can affect the circulatory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems. Some plants, such as dieffenbachia, irritate the skin or mucous membranes and may cause obstruction of the airway.