Pit Viper Snakebite Assessment and Treatment

Course Overview
This course is designed to provide emergency and intensive care nursing and physician staff with an accurate, concise, and practical clinical guide to the evaluation and management of snakebite victims who present with North American pit viper envenomation.

Learning Outcomes   
Upon the completion of this course, the learner should be able to:

• Identify snakes that may be venomous and the characteristics of snakebite.
• Outline the local and systemic effects of pit viper envenomation.
• Describe the characteristics of available antivenoms.
• Evaluate general approaches to the assessment of patients with snakebite.
• Discuss the role of blood products and urinary catheterization in patients being treated for snakebite.
• Discuss the prehospital management of the patient who has suspected or known snakebite.
• Devise a strategy for the management of asymptomatic patients with suspected or known snakebite.
• Describe the approach to management of symptomatic patients with suspected or known snakebite.
• Outline the reconstitution, dosages, and application of antivenom, including management of potential untoward effects.
• Analyze the appropriate follow-up of patients who were treated for snakebite, including indications to re-treat.

About the Author/Presenter   
Jon E. Soskis, BSN, RN, is a retired expert in pit viper snakebite assessment and treatment. He earned his BS in Biology from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, and his BSN from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, while completing his EMT training at Tallahassee Community College. Following a 30-year practice in emergency nursing at Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare, including numerous in-hospital snakebite consultations, he remains available to the local medical and nursing community for consultation during active treatment of pit viper envenomation, and has trained Florida State University College of Medicine surgical and internal medicine residents as well as Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare Family Practice residents in the subject. He has likewise presented at hospitals in Florida and North Carolina.

Mr. Soskis wishes to recognize the years-long contributions to this work by Rick Dart, MD, PhD, Director of Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center; Jeffrey Bernstein, MD, Medical Director of the South Florida Poison Information Center, Miami; and Ed Hall, MD, South Georgia Surgical Associates.

Audience/Accreditations and Approvals  
TRC Healthcare/ NetCE  
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by TRC Healthcare/ NetCE. TRC Healthcare/NetCE is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. 

This course is designed for the following healthcare professions (select your profession for details):  
Nursing, Physician