Patient discussions
Patients should be instructed in wound care. Patients with Crotalinae envenomation should be instructed to return to an emergency department for increasing local swelling, abnormal bleeding (e.g., black or bloody stools, easy bruising) or signs/symptoms of serum sickness (fever, rash, myalgias, arthralgias). Patients with Elapidae envenomations should be instructed to return to an emergency department for signs/symptoms of neurotoxicity (weakness, shortness of breath, etc).[56]
Patients with systemic Crotalinae toxicity or rattlesnake envenomations should be given bleeding precautions (no contact sports or elective procedures) for 2 weeks.[56]
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