Authors’ contributions SB, AT, MM, MA and FW had the initial idea to the study and arranged the study design and questionnaire. Literature search was performed by SB and AT, collecting of the data was performed
by SB, AT, MM, MA, and FW and analysis and interpretation of the data was done by SB, AT, MM, MA, and FW. SB, AT, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical MM, MA and FW wrote and SB431542 reviewed the manuscript before submission. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-227X/9/7/prepub Supplementary Material Additional file 1: Complete status-quo-questionnaire. Displayed is the complete questionnaire. Click here for file(98K, pdf) Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank all responsible, engaged and involved physicians, who invested the time to fill out the
questionnaire accurately. Furthermore, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical we want to thank especially Prof. E. Hahn, MD, who as the chairman of the German Society of Medical Education supported this evaluation and the founding of the Society’s “committee for emergency medical care and simulation” as much as possible.
Medical complications related to drugs account for a significant fraction of patient visits to the emergency department (ED). These visits Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical may be a result of illicit drug abuse, intentional or inadvertent overdose of prescription or over-the-counter medications, or drug-drug interactions [1-3]. There is increasing concern about the danger posed by misuse of prescription medications, particularly those with high potential Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical abuse liability (e.g., opioids), especially when used in combination with ethanol or street drugs [4]. In some patients, such as those with
altered mental status, a medical history may be unclear at the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical time of presentation to the ED. To aid in the diagnosis and management of drug-related complications, laboratory tests to screen for the presence of drugs and drug metabolites are widely used in emergency medicine [3,5]. We will refer to these tests as ‘drug of abuse/toxicology (DOA/Tox) screening tests’. Over the last four decades, a number of methods have been used for DOA/Tox screening including Cediranib (AZD2171) antibody-based assays (immunoassays) [6,7]. DOA/Tox immunoassay screens for amphetamines, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, cannabinoids, methadone, opiates, and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) were first introduced into clinical practice in the United States in the 1970s, initially as radioimmunoassays and later as non-radioactive immunoassays [8,9]. Immunoassays have steadily displaced other DOA/Tox screening methods such as thin-layer chromatography or colorimetric assays [7].