Title: Management of heroin overdose patients in prehospital and ED setting: How long do they need to be observed?<br/>Author: Hong Kim<br/><a href='http://umem.org/profiles/faculty/526/'>[Click to email author]</a><hr/><p>
        Recently a review paper was published regarding the duration of observation in heroin overdose patients who received naloxone.</p>
<p>
        It made several conclusions regarding heroin overdose:</p>
<ol>
        <li>
                Treat (naloxone) and release in a prehospital setting may be safe.</li>
        <li>
                Short observation period (minimum of 1 hour) for heroin OD patients who were treated in the ED may be safe.</li>
        <li>
                Bystander and first responder naloxone administration is effective and safe.</li>
</ol>
<p>
        It should be pointed out that this is a review paper of limited number of articles with variable quality. Additionally, the clinical history of “heroin use” may be unreliable as fentanyl and novel synthetic opioids are also sold as “heroin.” Providers should exercise appropriate clinical judgement when caring for these patients. </p>

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                                        <a href="https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy-hs.researchport.umd.edu/pubmed/?term=do+heroin+overdose+patients+require+observation+after+receiving+naloxone">Clin Toxicol (Phila).</a> 2016 Nov 16:1-7. [Epub ahead of print]</p>
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                                        Do heroin overdose patients require observation after receiving naloxone?</p>
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                                        <a href="https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy-hs.researchport.umd.edu/pubmed/?term=Willman%20MW%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=27849133">Willman MW</a>1, <a href="https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy-hs.researchport.umd.edu/pubmed/?term=Liss%20DB%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=27849133">Liss DB</a>1, <a href="https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy-hs.researchport.umd.edu/pubmed/?term=Schwarz%20ES%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=27849133">Schwarz ES</a>1, <a href="https://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.proxy-hs.researchport.umd.edu/pubmed/?term=Mullins%20ME%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=27849133">Mullins ME</a>1.</p>
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