Via practica 6/2024

Acute drug intoxication and antidotes in pre-hospital care

General practitioners can meet with drug intoxication relatively frequently. Even if they cannot arrive at the scene of the poisoning, they should be able to provide information based on data obtained from witnesses and relatives and not just recommend calling 155, as an alibi. If they encounter acute poisoning in their office, they should be familiar with both non-specific and specific symptoms of acute poisoning and the general principles of medical first aid for acute intoxication. The essential procedure is symptomatic treatment until the arrival of emergency medical services and then the administration of a specific antidote, if available.

Keywords: acute intoxication, symptomatic treatment, antidotes.