Retrospective assessment of acute poisoning incidents by nonpharmaceutical agents in Jordan: Data from Pharmacy One™ Poison Call Center, 2014 to 2018—Part I

The Pharmacy One™ Poising Call Center (P(1)PCC), located in Amman, Jordan, was created to address deficiencies identified by the pharmacy service, including in the management of poisoning cases. The aims of this study were to analyze the patterns of poisoning cases reported to the P(1)PCC and to describe the role of the P(1)PCC pharmacist in ensuring preparedness and managing the response to poisoning cases. In addition, the information from these interventions was used to survey human poisoning in Jordan. This is a retrospective descriptive study of acute poisoning incidents in the Jordanian population, as recorded by the P(1)PCC during the period 2014‐2018. Inquiries received by the P(1)PCC were recorded on a predesigned form. The year, patient demographics, toxic agent involved, and circumstances of the poisoning event were all fully documented utilizing Oracle and Excel spreadsheets. A total of 1992 poisoning incidents were reported to the P1PCC, predominately (68.59%) via 911 phone calls. Reports were predominantly from males (1.67:1). Children were the second most common age group after adolescents (22.62% and 42.49%, respectively). The most frequent causative nonpharmaceutical agents were household products (17%) in preschool children and animal bites (20%) in adolescents. Most of the poisoning incidents (74.63%) occurred at home. Unintentional poisoning (54.12%), with mild medical outcomes (61.45%), accounted for most of the poisoning incidents caused by exposure to household products. These data may represent the most recent picture of poisoning incidents in Jordan. Emergency medical services were provided by experienced pharmacy practitioners at the P(1)PCC, to respond to emergency needs in the community in a professional manner. Therefore, the need for unnecessary hospitalization and the cost of ambulance dispatch were minimized, which are highly valuable outcomes.