Antidotes Stocking and Delivery for Acute Poisoning Patients at 20 Emergency Departments in Korea 2015–2017.
- Author:
Seungmin LEE
1
;
Han Deok YOUN
;
Hanseok CHANG
;
Sinae WON
;
Kyung Hwan KIM
;
Bum Jin OH
Author Information
- Publication Type:Original Article
- Keywords: Antidotes; Drug overdose; Poisoning; Stocking
- MeSH: Antidotes*; Drug Overdose; Emergencies*; Emergency Medical Services; Emergency Service, Hospital*; Female; Humans; Intensive Care Units; Korea*; Patients' Rooms; Pesticides; Poisoning*; Running; Snake Venoms
- From:Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology 2018;16(2):131-140
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
- Abstract: PURPOSE: The National Emergency Medical Center has been running a project for the storage and delivery of antidotes for acute poisoning patients of the Department of Health and Welfare, Korea. This study analyzed the results of this project over the past two years. METHODS: The requests received by the National Emergency Medical Center and the data on the delivery process were analyzed. RESULTS: This study analyzed a total of 121 patients with acute poisoning, who were requested to receive an antidote reserved at 20 key hospitals in 2015–2017, and whose age was 52.3±23.5 years; old; 54 were women. Intentional poisoning were 58.7%, and the home was the most common place of exposure (66.9%). The toxic substances were chemicals (32.2%), pesticides (27.3%), medicines (24.8%), and snake venom (4.1%). The patient's poison severity score was 2.4±0.7 (median 3) indicating moderate-to-severe toxicity. Antidote administration was the cases treated in key hospitals 67.8% (82/121), in which transferred patients accounted for 57.3% (47/82). After receiving an antidote request from a hospital other than the key hospitals, the median was 75.5 minutes (range 10 to 242 minutes) until the antidote reached the patient, and an average of 81.5 minutes was required. The results of emergency care were intensive care unit (70.3%), general wards (13.2%), death (10.7%), and discharge from emergency department (5.0%). CONCLUSION: This study showed that the characteristics of acute poisoning patients treated with an antidote were different from previous reports of poisoned patients in the emergency department, and basic data on the time required for delivery from key hospitals was different.
