Predicting Outcomes of a Drug Overdose

by Chris Atteridge

Submitted : Spring 2013

In the event of a drug overdose, medical professionals must act quickly in order to prevent lasting damage resulting from high blood concentrations of a drug. It is of vital importance that these professionals have the ability to use information about the specific drug and the particular patient in conjunction to project future outcomes of the overdose in question. In this project, I used general calculus equations and methods to predict future blood concentrations of a drug in the event of an overdose. With such a projection, it becomes possible to make educated decisions regarding actions that can be performed to prevent harm or potential death. Upon graphing the fully solved equations, analysis revealed that, in the case of both given problems, stomach evacuation proved to be the most effective procedure to be done in the case of drug overdoses such as the ones supposed in this project.

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