Out‐of‐hospital Treatment of Opioid Overdoses in an Urban Setting

Abstract

The majority of the opioid-overdose patients who had initial BPs responded readily to naloxone, with few patients requiring admission. Noncardiogenic pulmonary edema was uncommon and when present, hypoxia was evident upon arrival to the ED. Naloxone administered i.m. in conjunction with bag-valve-mask ventilation was effective in this patient population. The opioid-overdose patients in cardiopulmonary arrest did not survive.