Use and toxicity of complementary and alternative medicines among emergency department patients

Abstract

Complementary and alternative medicines are used by a considerable proportion of ED patients. The potential for side-effects, toxicity and interaction with traditional medication indicates the need for consideration of CAM use in patient assessment.

Activities of self-treatment and help-seeking before emergency department presentation: A gender- and ethnicity-specific analysis

“…In dealing with acute complaints even in emergency situations, self-treatment was very common and, as shown, an important part of the help- seeking process. Our study findings indicated a higher utilisation of ST and other modes of help-seeking compared to other study results (Li et al 2004;Taylor et al 2004;Nicholson 2006). This can partly be explained by differences in assessing self-treatment and help-seeking manners.…”

“…Studies from the US showed that a high percentage of patients in the US use CAM before presenting to an emergency department (Li et al 2004); however, patients very often do not inform doctors about previous or parallel use of CAM (Gulla and Singer 2000). Data from an Australian study found that 68.1% of ED patients had taken CAM within the last year, 12.4% on the day of presentation (Taylor et al 2004). Study results point to a wider use of CAM among women (Velanovich et al 2006;Allen et al 2000;Nicholson 2006).…”

“…While patients describe alternative treatments as effective (Allen et al 2000), they can have side effects (Taylor et al 2004) and can also counteract or complicate efforts of physicians. Risks in the context of self-treatment or CAM use refer to an exacerbation of complaints (Zun et al 2002), interaction between medicines, false indications, application or dosing, and break-ups or unawareness of physicians about the previous self-treatment.…”

“…Most of the studies focused on the use of complementary and alternative therapy (CAM) before presentation at an emergency department (Pearl et al 1995;Li et al 2004;Gulla and Singer 2000;Zun et al 2002;Taylor et al 2004;Nicholson 2006); they are few and far between, and focused on general patterns of help-seeking and selftreatment activities (Frayne et al 2002) or put a specific focus on gender (Zun et al 2002;Taylor et al 2004;Nicholson 2006) and ethnicity (Pearl et al 1995;Nicholson 2006). The use of CAM is widespread.…”

Reporting of non‐prescribed medication usage in remote Australia: health‐seeking habits in Port Headland

“…1 Because the emergency department is their first point of contact, large numbers of people are potentially exposed to mostly preventable adverse events. Given that non-prescribed medications have the potential to cause adverse drug reactions and complementary and alternative medicines are used extensively by patients who attend Australian emergency departments, 3 we sought to determine the usage of non-prescribed medications and people's willingness to report their use in a remote town. 2 Clinicians in the emergency department of Port Hedland Hospital reported concern that individuals attending the emergency department were not reporting use of nonprescribed medications.…”