Lange Medical Publications, whose pocket handbooks deservedly bulge from internes' and residents' working coats, has again (1971) published Dreisbach's succinct "summary of the diagnosis and treatment of clinically important poisons." In a preliminary notice the author properly refers the physician to the "package insert" for additional drug use instructions.
Emphasis at the start is on "prevention of poisoning" including the proper nonuse of drugs, eg, in pregnancy. One might well add the danger of unnecessary drug interactions and fatalities to evidence favoring more judicious selection of indications.
Next comes "Emergency Management." Clear, concise outlines enable priorities to be established and serial steps to be taken in the vital, speedy identification of the poison, prevention of absorption, use of rare antidotes, and the obligatory supporting measures.
It is stressed, but without proper emphasis, that fluid extract of ipecac must never be used and that an inflatable tracheal cuff is always necessary