Case Studies: The Comedy and Tragedy in the Pre-hospital Management of Envenomations
(Room 4D)
24 Feb 18
3:00 PM
-
4:30 PM
Tracks:
Emergency Medical Services
Injury, illness and death caused by encounters with venomous animals continue to be a significant public health issue in the United States. Numerous animals can induce significant harm through envenomation. Such envenomations result in thousands of human injuries and numerous fatalities per year in the United States. A key to appropriate care is proper education and sustained knowledge. As demonstrated in previous research, both clinicians and patients have become reliant upon the internet for components of their knowledge and education. Numerous studies have unfortunately highlighted the variety of misinformation available on the internet regarding pre-hospital care of envenomations. As the available data regarding pre-hospital care of envenomation has increased, sound scientific practices have replaced traditional remedies in treatment. Pre-hospital providers should be aware of these sound scientific practices. This lecture will present a number of factual envenomation cases and discuss the errors made in the pre-hospital management of those incidents, both with comedic and tragic effects. Lessons learned from these cases will be highlighted and the appropriate evidence-based pre-hospital medical care of envenomations will be discussed.