The book contains 30 articles written by experts in the fields of laboratory medicine, emergency medicine, and toxicology that cover recent advances and state-of-the-art information in the care of the poisoned patient. The articles cover major topics that include the epidemiology of poisoning and substance abuse, including prescription drug abuse; pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic behavior of the most prevalent drugs of abuse, medications, and environmental poisons; clinical manifestations of poisons and approaches to diagnoses; critical appraisal of laboratory and point-of-care testing methods, sample types, and tests for sample adulteration; laboratory support of opioid therapy for chronic non-cancer pain; biological monitoring of chemical exposures; pharmacogenetic principles and toxicity risk assessment; principles and applications of advanced analytical techniques; and an assessment of the provision of a revised clinical toxicology laboratory service. The textbook is intended for use by clinical chemists; clinical pathologists; clinical laboratory directors, managers, supervisors, and technologists; pharmacists; poison control center specialists; and medical students, residents, and fellows. Index