The emergency treatment of poisoning

Poisoning is a common presentation in emergency care and can occur in many situations. It is important to understand the priorities in the care of poisoned patients, the key principles in toxicology and the value of clinical signs and symptoms. Clinicians face challenges when dealing with uncertainty in undifferentiated patients, which can be minimized through appropriate self-directed learning. There is also value in departmental planning to avoid significant logistical issues. The future direction of emergency treatment of poisoning is likely to see improvements in primary prevention, reductions in protocol variation and new targets for treatment.