Evaluation of poison information services provided by a new poison information center

AIM: The aim of this study is to assess the nature and quality of services provided by poison information center established at a tertiary-care teaching hospital, Mysore. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a prospective observational study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The poison information center was officially established in September 2010 and began its functioning thereafter. The center is equipped with required resources and facility (e.g., text books, Poisindex, Drugdex, toll free telephone service, internet and online services) to provide poison information services. The poison information services provided by the center were recorded in documentation forms. The documentation form consists of numerous sections to collect information on: (a) Type of population (children, adult, elderly or pregnant) (b) poisoning agents (c) route of exposure (d) type of poisoning (intentional, accidental or environmental) (e) demographic details of patient (age, gender and bodyweight) (f) enquirer details (background, place of call and mode of request) (g) category and purpose of query and (h) details of provided service (information provided, mode of provision, time taken to provide information and references consulted). The nature and quality of poison information services provided was assessed using a quality assessment checklist developed in accordance with DSE/World Health Organization guidelines. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Chi-Square test (χ(2)). RESULTS: A total of 419 queries were received by the center. A majority (n = 333; 79.5%) of the queries were asked by the doctors to provide optimal care (n = 400; 95.5%). Most of the queries were received during ward rounds (n = 201; 48.0%), followed by direct access (n = 147; 35.1%). The poison information services were predominantly provided through verbal communication (n = 352; 84.0%). Upon receipt of queries, the required service was provided immediately (n = 103; 24.6%) or within 10-20 min (n = 296; 70.6%). The queries were mainly related to intentional poisoning (n = 258; 64.5%), followed by accidental poisoning (n = 142; 35.5%). The most common poisoning agents were medicines (n = 124; 31.0%). The service provided was graded as “Excellent” for the majority of queries (n = 360; 86%; P < 0.001), followed by “Very Good” (n = 50; 12%) and “Good” (n = 9; 2%). CONCLUSION: The poison information center provided requested services in a skillful, efficient and evidence-based manner to meet the needs of the requestor. The enquiries and information provided is documented in a clear and systematic manner.