Introduction: In Slovenia, plant poisoning represents a small proportion of all cases of poisoning. Poisoning of young people is most commonly a result of hallucination induction, and older people normally get poisoned because they consume poisonous plants instead of edible ones unknowingly. In the event of plant poisoning, first aid measures and timely medical assistance are of key importance. Purpose and objectives: The aim of this paper was to determine how well individuals are familiar with the selected poisonous plants and determine the level of their first aid skills in the event of potential poisoning. Our goals were to determine (1) whether the individuals recognise the selected poisonous plants, (2) whether they are familiar with causes for plant poisoning and (3) whether they are familiar with first aid measures in the event of such poisoning. Methods: Professional literature written in Slovenian and English was reviewed. Literary sources used to present theoretical findings were found in the following international databases: COBIB.SI, Medline (in the PubMed browser), CINAHL and DiKul. In the empirical part, the quantitative non-experimental work method was used. The data were collected using an online survey application 1KA and by conducting printed surveys. The collected data were processed using Microsoft Excel 2016. Results: The survey was filled in by 301 people. The respondents believe that, among names of the selected poisonous plants, they are most familiar with the lily of the valley (more than 80%) and the least with thorn apple (9%). They had the least difficulty recognizing photos of lily of the valley, common ivy, elderberry and yew. Signs of poisoning most commonly mentioned by the respondents were vomiting (n = 200), sickness (n = 167), diarrhoea (n = 100), stomach pain and digestive disorders (n = 53) and dizziness (n = 41). More than 90% of the respondents know that, in the event of poisoning, plant identification, stable recovery position of an unconscious person and non-use of alcohol are required. Discussion and conclusion: Based on their self-evaluation results, the respondents had less difficulty recognising names of the selected plants than their photos. We suggest familiarising basic first aid training participants with basic first aid measures related to plant poisoning. First aid information related to plant poisoning to be provided to the participants should be plant residue preservation, mouth-cleaning, induction of vomiting (following a consultation with a doctor) and activated carbon consumption (following a consultation with a doctor).
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