Background Acute drug poisoning is a medical emergency that represents a major health problem all over the world and affects people of all age groups. It significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality, therefore requiring immediate assessment and management. Aim To assess the outcomes of acute drug poisoning among patients at one of the university hospitals in Cairo. Research design A descriptive exploratory research design was utilized in the current study. Research question What are the outcomes of critically ill patients admitted to the toxicology department with acute drug poisoning? Sample A purposive sample of 150 adult male and female patients who were admitted with acute drug poisoning. Tools of data collection Three tools were utilized to collect data pertinent to the current study: demographic and medical data tool, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores tool, and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score. Results More than three-quarters of patients in the present study were females and had single-drug poisoning in percentages of 81.3 and 76.7%, respectively. Most of the studied sample was in the age group 18–20 with a mean age of 28±9.33 and stayed for 2 days in the ICU in percentages of 41.3 and 48%, respectively. Almost all (99.3%) of the studied sample had mild organ failure, more than two- thirds (64.7%) had Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II scores ranging from 0 to 4, indicating a 4% predicted mortality. Conclusion Single acute drug poisoning was markedly noticed among patients in the present study and most frequently was related to consumption of psychotropic medications with a greater proportion among the females who had in common mild organ dysfunction and low predicted mortality. Recommendations Increasing young-adult awareness about drug overdose to prevent poisoning. Furthermore, psychiatric consultation for patients admitted with acute drug poisoning before discharge is needed. For future studies, replication of this study on a larger-probability sample selected from different geographical areas in Egypt is recommended to obtain more generalizable results.
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