Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of inhaled morphine delivered in patients experiencing severe acute pain in an emergency setting.Patients and Methods: Patients were eligible for inclusion if they were aged 18 years or older, with a severe acute pain defined by a numerical rating scale (NRS) score of 60/100 or higher. The intervention involved administering a single dose of 0.2 mg/kg morphine nebulized using a Misty-Neb nebulizer system. NRSs were recorded and were repeated at 1, 3, 5, and 10 minute after the end of inhalation (T10). The protocol-defined primary outcome measure was pain relief (defined by an NRS score of 30/100 or lower) at T10. Secondary outcomes included differences between pain scores at baseline and at T10 and incidence of adverse events.Results: A total of 28 patients were included in this study. No patient experienced pain relief 10 minutes after the end of inhalation, and no adverse effects were recorded. Respective initial and final median NRS scores were 80 (70-90) and 70 (60-80), p < 0.0001. Despite achieving statistical significance, the value of this point estimate is less than the 14 NRS difference that was defined a priori as representing a minimum clinically significant difference in pain severity.Conclusion: 0.2 mg/kg nebulized morphine is not effective in managing acute pain in an emergency setting. In spite of the potential advantages of the pulmonary route of administration, opioids should be intravenous prescribed at short fixed intervals to control severe acute pain in an emergency setting.

Introduction. Overdose of potassium is not as frequently encountered in clinical practice as hyperkalaemia due to acute or chronic renal disease. However, potassium overdoses leading to serious consequences do occur. Case Presentation. A 20-year-old nurse student presented with a cardiac arrest with asystole rhythm. Beside the patient were found four 50-mL syringes and empty vials of potassium chloride (20 mL, 10%). After initial resuscitation with epinephrine, 125 mL of a 4.2% intravenous solution of sodium bicarbonate were injected which resulted in the recovery of an effective cardiac activity. The patient recovered without sequelae. Conclusion. The difficulty in this case was to recognize the potassium poisoning. The advanced resuscitation with the use of a specific treatment helped to resuscitate the patient.

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