Management of self poisoning

Around 15%­20% of the workload of medical units and 10% of the workload of accident and emergency departments in the United Kingdom are due to self poisoning.1 2 Episodes of self poisoning in the United Kingdom continue to rise, particularly in young men, and alcohol is often taken with the overdose.2 In general the severity of poisoning has diminished over the past 10 years with the introduction of safer drugs, such as newer serotonin reuptake inhibitors, but the total number of deaths from poisoning in the United Kingdom remains steady at 4000 per year, and the commonest cause of death by poisoning is carbon monoxide.2 3 This article highlights several specific advances in the management of poisoning over the past two or three years.