Affiliation:
1. DDRC, Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine, Plymouth, UK
Abstract
Physicians often have limited experience of carbon mon oxide poisoning, and regional and national poison units are regularly contacted for advice. To improve the situa tion a 24-hour/365 days a year advice line was created to advise both hospital accident and emergency depart ments and poison units. This service started in January 1996. All calls to the service are initially dealt with by a first responder whose aim is to identify 'critical answers' and act accordingly. If the patient's poisoning is suffi ciently severe, then onward referral to a hyperbaric unit may be appropriate. In addition to patient care, the CO advisory service provides training and lectures for all hospitals that request this support. To date the total referrals can be broken down as accidental poisoning (51%), smoke inhalation (27%), non-accidental poison ing (21 %) and cause unknown (1 %). This is in contrast to the general perception that non-accidental poisonings make up the vast majority of cases. The service under takes to follow the progress of the patient until all issues are resolved and to remain available to provide advice and support until it is no longer required. In the future the service hopes to provide data for research and eventual ly to provide leadership in organising and running treat ment trials including the efficacy and value of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Subject
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Cited by
3 articles.
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