Description
Many poisoned patients are treated with no laboratory
help other than general clinical chemistry and haematology.
However, some emergency toxicological analyses that could
influence immediate patient management such as ethanol,
iron, lithium, paracetamol (acetaminophen), and salicylates
should be provided at hospitals with emergency departments
on an urgent (24 h, maximum 2 h turnaround) basis. More
complex, less frequently needed clinical toxicological assays
are often provided from regional or national centres because
of the need to make best use of resources. Regional centres
normally offer specialized therapeutic drug monitoring,
urine screening for drugs of abuse, and metals/trace elements
analysis in addition to specialized toxicology tests such
as ethylene glycol and methanol. Clinical interpretation
of analytical results is the responsibility of the reporting
laboratory, at least in the first instance.
