Article date: January 2019
By: Robert G. Legg, Mark Little in Volume 85, Issue 1, pages 11-19
Aims
Presentations of intoxicated patients to hospital are frequent and increasing. We aimed to review the existing evidence that the presence of inpatient clinical toxicology services reduces use of resources without impacting on the care of these patients.
Methods
We conducted a literature search using the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase for articles that measured length of stay (and other outcomes) for the target population, with toxicology services as an intervention. The articles were reviewed with respect to the ROBINS‐I tool.
Results
Seven relevant articles were identified. Six of these studies demonstrated reduced hospital length of stay for intoxicated patients in hospitals with inpatient toxicology services. None of the articles demonstrated a detriment in morbidity or mortality. There were also improvements in other resource‐related outcomes.
Conclusions
The presence of inpatient toxicology services appears to improve resource utilization, in reduction of length of stay, as well as a number of other related outcomes. It does this without compromising on patient morbidity or mortality. Thus, it should be considered as a potential model of care for future toxicology services, especially with current trends of increasing demand for service efficiency.
DOI: 10.1111/bcp.13768
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