Abstract

A short cut review of the literature was carried out to establish whether any risk factors would predict the need for endotracheal intubation in undifferentiated adult patients presenting with poisoning/overdose with unknown substance. Five papers presented the best evidence to answer the clinical question. The author, date and country of publication, patient group studied, study type, relevant outcomes, results and study weaknesses of these papers are tabulated. It is concluded that further robust studies of large cohorts are needed to answer this difficult question.