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- Inform patients about the prognosis of CO poisoning.
- Educate patients about preventing CO exposure and recognizing the early symptoms of CO poisoning.
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Inform patients about the prognosis of CO poisoning.  |
- Tell patients that:
- Most exposure-related symptoms fully resolve either after removal from CO source or treatment with oxygen, usually within 1 month
- Severe initial symptoms (coma, lethargy) may have persistent neurologic sequelae, and new neurologic symptoms may develop within the first month after exposure; there is no treatment except supportive care, and hospitalization is not required
- With minimal initial symptoms, there is no risk of developing delayed symptoms
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Educate patients about preventing CO exposure and recognizing the early symptoms of CO poisoning.  |
- Inform patients of the possibility of CO production from all combustion appliances and advise them to reduce the possibility of exposure by:
- Regularly servicing all combustion vehicles or appliances to ensure complete combustion
- Avoiding use of combustion appliances in enclosed or even partially enclosed areas
- Ensuring adequate ventilation and using fans in partially enclosed areas where passive ventilation may not prevent CO exposure
- Installing CO detectors in all areas where combustion appliances are used and checking them quarterly for adequate function and battery level
- Make patients aware of the symptoms of early CO poisoning so they can avoid prolonged exposure including headache, nausea, fatigue, decreased mental acuity, visual changes, dyspnea, and chest tightness that should prompt them to discontinue using the combustion appliance.
| Background | Back to top
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| Carlos Scheinkestel, MD, editorial consultant, has no financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biomedical device manufacturers, or health-care related organizations. Jeffrey T. Chapman, MD has no financial relationships with pharmaceutical companies, biomedical device manufacturers, or health-care related organizations. |
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The information included herein should never be used as a substitute
for clinical judgment and does not represent an official position of
ACP. Because all PIER modules are updated regularly, printed web pages
or PDFs may rapidly become obsolete. Therefore, PIER users should
compare the date of the last update on the website with any printout
to ensure that the information being referred to is the most current
available.
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PIER is copyrighted (c) 2008 by the American College of Physicians,
190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106-1572, USA.
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Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
