ABEM Medical Tox case studies
ABEM Medical Tox · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Medical Toxicology is an ABMS-recognized subspecialty concerned with the diagnosis and management of human poisoning and envenomation, adverse drug effects, and exposure to occupational and environmental hazards. ABEM administers subspecialty certification in Medical Toxicology for physicians who already hold primary certification, and ABEM's own navigation lists Medical Toxicology continuing certification as the MyToxCert module. Candidates are typically emergency physicians and others who evaluate undifferentiated poisoned patients, interpret drug levels, select antidotes, and advise on hazardous-materials incidents and public health threats. Exam content in this subspecialty generally spans pharmacokinetics and risk assessment, decontamination and supportive care, pharmaceutical overdose and drugs of abuse, alcohols, environmental and occupational exposures, chemical and biological agents, and analytical and forensic toxicology, with antidote selection threaded throughout. The ABEM Medical Tox case studies are 5 cases and about 2,019 words.
1Staggered Acetaminophen Ingestion With Early Coagulopathy
A 39-year-old man with alcohol use disorder is brought in 14 hours after the first of several handfuls of 500-mg acetaminophen tablets, taken over 6 hours after a weekend binge. He vomited twice and has right upper quadrant tenderness.
453 words, about 2 min2Amlodipine and Metoprolol Overdose With Refractory Shock
A 62-year-old woman with hypertension and depression ingests 300 mg amlodipine and 2 g metoprolol. Six hours later she is somnolent but protecting her airway.
410 words, about 2 min3Methanol Toxicity With a Deceptively Reassuring Ethanol Level
A 46-year-old man presents 18 hours after drinking homemade spirits at a party. He has nausea, blurred vision, and confusion.
379 words, about 2 min4A Family With Lead Exposure: Whom to Chelate and When
A family of four lives in a 1920s rental. The father, 38, works at a battery-recycling plant; he has colicky abdominal pain, fatigue, blood lead 55 micrograms/dL, and hemoglobin 10.5 g/dL.
401 words, about 2 min5A Household Cluster of Descending Weakness After Home-Canned Peppers
Three members of one household present over 12 hours after eating home-canned peppers. A 58-year-old grandmother has diplopia, dysphagia, and drooling; a 34-year-old father has blurred vision and mild arm weakness; a 7-year-old child has abdominal cramps and vomiting but normal strength.
376 words, about 2 min