Emergency department observation of poisoned patients: How long is necessary?

Objective: To compare the emergency physician disposition decisions after o bservation periods of two, four, and six hours in a single cohort of ED pat ients with acute intentional ingestion to determine the accuracy of disposi tion decisions at two and four hours relative to the six-hour period of obs ervation. Methods: This was a prospective observational study at two univer sity hospital EDs. Study participants were patients with potentially toxic oral ingestions occurring less than six hours prior to ED presentation. Pat ients with isolated recreational drug or ethanol use were excluded. Structu red data forms were completed at presentation, and two, four, and six hours later. Data included signs and symptoms consistent with toxic ingestion, p hysical examination, laboratory determinations, medications ingested, treat ment, and suicide risk. At two and four hours, physicians were asked to det ermine whether they thought the patient was safe for medical clearance. The se patients continued to be observed for six hours. The main outcome was wh ether patients initially thought to be appropriate for early medical cleara nce were ultimately cleared at six hours. Results: There were 260 patients enrolled: 28 were immediately admitted to the hospital and 17 were immediat ely discharged; 215 entered ED observation. Patients had a mean age of 24 y ears; 55% were female; 50% were suicidal; 17% had toxidromes. Of the 215 ob served patients, 106 (49%) were deemed safe for early medical clearance at two hours. All 106 were ultimately cleared at six hours (100%, 95% CI = 97% to 100%). Of the 109 not safe for early medical clearance at two hours, 61 (56%) were deemed safe for early medical clearance at four hours; all 61 w ere subsequently discharged at six hours (100%; 95% CI = 95% to 100%). Over all, 167 of 215 (77%) observed overdose patients were deemed safe for early medical clearance after two or four hours of observation. All 167 were ult imately cleared at six hours (100%; 95% CI = 98.2% to 100%). Conclusions: A large subset of overdose patients who are medically cleared after six hour s of observation can be identified within two to four hours of presentation . No patient who was believed to be safe for medical clearance at either tw o or four hours had a complication within the six-hour time period (95% CI = 0% to 1.8%). These data suggest that asymptomatic patients with selected acute intentional ingestions can be released from medical observation in le ss than six hours.