The Management of Agitated Toxidromes

Sophie Gosselin; Robert S Hoffman

doi:10.1016/j.emc.2022.01.009

The Management of Agitated Toxidromes

Emerg Med Clin North Am. 2022 May;40(2):223-235. doi: 10.1016/j.emc.2022.01.009. Epub 2022 Apr 5.

Authors

Sophie Gosselin¹, Robert S Hoffman²

Affiliations

¹ Centre Intégré de Santé et de Services Sociaux (CISSS), Montérégie-Centre Emergency Department, Hôpital Charles-Lemoyne, 3120 Boulevard Taschereau, Greenfield Park, Québec J4V 2H1, Canada; Centre Antipoison du Québec, Québec, Canada; Department of Emergency Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada. Electronic address: sgosselinmd@gmail.com.
² Division of Medical Toxicology, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Emergency Medicine, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, 455 First Avenue Room 123, New York, NY 10016, USA.

PMID: 35461620
DOI: 10.1016/j.emc.2022.01.009

Abstract

Taking care of patients with agitated toxidromes can be challenging. While many will be able to be discharged from the emergency department or transferred to psychiatry following brief and simple interventions others will have life-threatening toxicity. Health care providers must develop an organized approach to the assessment and management of these patients that includes foremost the protection of the patient and staff from physical harm, prompt pharmacologic control to allow rapid assessment for life-threatening abnormalities such as hypoglycemia and hyperthermia and optimal cooling of patients with extreme temperature elevations.

Keywords: Agitation; Cooling; Hyperthermia; Intoxication; Sedation.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Anxiety
Emergency Service, Hospital*
Humans
Psychomotor Agitation* / diagnosis
Psychomotor Agitation* / therapy