[Techniques and procedures administered to patients with acute poisoning in an emergency department]

To identify differences between types of intoxications, determine the needs of intoxicated patients, measure the number of interventions carried out and verify the quality of the healthcare process.

Data were collected from the charts of all intoxicated patients seen by the Emergency Department during a 2-month period. Techniques, procedures and treatments were analyzed. Quality of care was evaluated using 10 indicators. The results, expressed as percentages or means (standard deviation), were compared with quality standards. The chi2 test or Fisher's exact test were used to compare qualitative variables and Student's t-test was used to compare quantitative variables. Statistical significance was established as p < 0.05.

A total of 281 intoxicated patients were attended. The mean age was 35.74 (14) years and 50.7% were women. The main causes of poisoning were ethyl alcohol (37.4%), other substances of abuse (21.7%) and medication (30.2%). Nursing techniques were carried out in 74.8% of the patients and 47.5% received some form of treatment. Of the 10 quality indicators, only three reached the established standards. There were no statistically significant differences in the number of interventions carried out according to the type of intoxication, although differences were found in the frequency of administration of different techniques or treatments according to the type of poison. None of the patients died.

Intoxications due to alcohol, medication and drugs of abuse require the same amount of medical care and their clinical outcome is similar. The care of intoxicated patients could be improved.