Out-of-hospital administration of activated charcoal by emergency medical services. Export

@article{citeulike:113079, abstract = {STUDY OBJECTIVE: We assess the feasibility of activated charcoal provided by emergency medical services (EMS). METHODS: This was a 12-month follow-up study on the feasibility of a newly introduced protocol to administer activated charcoal by EMS to acutely poisoned patients before arrival at the hospital. Administration of activated charcoal (50 g or 1 g/kg orally or by nasogastric tube) was considered in 2,047 patients with acute poisoning. Main outcome measures were success rate and elapsed times in and adverse effects of administering charcoal. RESULTS: Activated charcoal was considered to be an indication for 722 patients (35\% of the study population) and was administered to 555 patients. Median elapsed time from poison ingestion to activated charcoal administration was 88 minutes, and median time from activated charcoal administration to hospital arrival was 20 minutes. Activated charcoal was not given to 101 (15.4\%) patients, although considered indicated, because of patient refusal (n=72), inability to ingest a charcoal mixture (n=23), technical problems (n=4), or recommendation by the hospital after telephone consultation (n=2). Charcoal caused no reported adverse effects. CONCLUSION: Out-of-hospital activated charcoal administration by EMS is feasible, even in severe poisonings. Adverse events were rare.}, address = {Helsinki Emergency Medical Services, Poison Information Centre, and Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. ari.alaspaa@luukku.com <ari.alaspaa@luukku.com>}, author = {Alasp\"{a}\"{a}, A. O. and Kuisma, M. J. and Hoppu, K. and Neuvonen, P. J.}, citeulike-article-id = {113079}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2004.07.448}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15671978}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=15671978}, doi = {10.1016/j.annemergmed.2004.07.448}, issn = {1097-6760}, journal = {Ann Emerg Med}, keywords = {charcoal, emergency-medical-services}, month = {February}, number = {2}, pages = {207--212}, posted-at = {2005-03-03 12:57:05}, priority = {2}, title = {Out-of-hospital administration of activated charcoal by emergency medical services.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2004.07.448}, volume = {45}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:113079 L3 - citeulike-article-id:113079 N2 - STUDY OBJECTIVE: We assess the feasibility of activated charcoal provided by emergency medical services (EMS). METHODS: This was a 12-month follow-up study on the feasibility of a newly introduced protocol to administer activated charcoal by EMS to acutely poisoned patients before arrival at the hospital. Administration of activated charcoal (50 g or 1 g/kg orally or by nasogastric tube) was considered in 2,047 patients with acute poisoning. Main outcome measures were success rate and elapsed times in and adverse effects of administering charcoal. RESULTS: Activated charcoal was considered to be an indication for 722 patients (35% of the study population) and was administered to 555 patients. Median elapsed time from poison ingestion to activated charcoal administration was 88 minutes, and median time from activated charcoal administration to hospital arrival was 20 minutes. Activated charcoal was not given to 101 (15.4%) patients, although considered indicated, because of patient refusal (n=72), inability to ingest a charcoal mixture (n=23), technical problems (n=4), or recommendation by the hospital after telephone consultation (n=2). Charcoal caused no reported adverse effects. CONCLUSION: Out-of-hospital activated charcoal administration by EMS is feasible, even in severe poisonings. Adverse events were rare. IS - 2 JF - Ann Emerg Med SN - 1097-6760 AD - Helsinki Emergency Medical Services, Poison Information Centre, and Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland. ari.alaspaa@luukku.com <ari.alaspaa@luukku.com> EP - 212 TI - Out-of-hospital administration of activated charcoal by emergency medical services. VL - 45 SP - 207 KW - charcoal KW - emergency-medical-services AU - Alaspää, AO AU - Kuisma, MJ AU - Hoppu, K AU - Neuvonen, PJ PY - 2005/02// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2004.07.448 ER -