Poisoning and Drug Overdose by Kent Olson, Neal L. Benowitz (Editor), Paul D. Blanc (Editor)

Kent R. Olson, MD, FACEP

Medical Director

California Poison Control System, San Francisco Division

San Francisco GeneralHospital

Attending Emergency Physician

Elden Hospital Medical Center

Clinical Professor of Medicine, Pediatrics, and Pharmacy

University of California, San Francisco

Cecily Whiting

This manual outlines a comprehensive approach to the diagnosis and management of drug overdose, poisoning, and occupational illness. The authors intend to provide an up-to-date and practical guide to the management of poisoning and drug overdose, including essential information about industrial chemicals and occupational illness. It is meant to be a very practical, on-duty reference. It is written by the faculty and staff of the San Francisco Bay Area Regional Poison Control Center for themselves and for use by all health care providers, especially specialists in emergency medicine, primary care, and occupational medicine. The authors are generally quite credible in their field. They achieve their objective in a pocket-sized, spiral-bound manual divided into 4 sections: (1) Initial Management, (2) Diagnosis and Treatment, (3) Antidote and Therapeutic Drugs, (4) Occupational Illness and Industrial Exposures. Each section is identified with black tabs in right margins, which allows the reader to move quickly from section to section. There are multiple referenced tables and hard icons at the beginning of each toxin that provide quick reference to the availability of various decontamination methods. This is a highly useful book for the practicing clinician that provides information needed to evaluate and appropriately manage toxicologic emergencies. It provides an impressive wealth of information in a tabulated and easy-to-find manner that fits easily in a lab coat pocket. It would be a valuable addition to any medical library, especially at a site without ready access to toxicology consultants.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Dave Stone, PhD, MS (Oregon State University)
Description:This book provides comprehensive evaluation, diagnosis and treatment for a wide variety of drugs and poisons. In addition to therapeutic and illicit drugs, it summarizes industrial, occupational, and environmental agents, including adverse health effects and possible antidotes. A previous edition was published in 2004.
Purpose:It includes practical advice for the diagnosis and management of poisoning and drug overdose and concise information about common industrial chemicals. These are worthy objectives and updated editions are required so that information is as current as possible.
Audience:Poison control staff, medical toxicologists, and healthcare practitioners are the intended audience. The authors are the faculty, staff, and associates of the California Poison Control System.
Features:The book covers the basic evaluation and treatment of people who are poisoned, including specific chemical agents, therapeutic drugs and antidotes, and environmental and occupational chemicals. This book is novel and comprehensive in that occupational and environmental toxins are included with drugs and therapeutic agents within a framework of poisoning management. There are few illustrations, which does not affect the book's quality or utility, but more illustrations in the first section on basic evaluation and treatment would be helpful.
Assessment:This is an excellent resource for poison control centers, toxicologists, and healthcare practitioners for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of poisonings as a result of exposure to a wide variety ofindustrial, therapeutic, illicit, and environmental chemicals.

Booknews

Provides concise practical advice for diagnosis and treatment of poisoning and drug overdose, including chemical and occupational exposures. Includes sections on evaluation and treatment, specific poisons and drugs, therapeutic drugs and antidotes, and environmental and occupational toxicology. This third edition contains expanded material on common poisons and drugs, a new table of pharmacokinetic values for common drugs, and a table of exposure guidelines for some 500 industrial chemicals. Spiral bound, 5.25x8.5". Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Rating

3 Stars from Doody