ORIGINAL PAPER
Toxicological consultation data management system based on experience of Pomeranian Center of Toxicology
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1
Pomorskie Centrum Toksykologii / Pomeranian Center of Toxicology, Gdańsk, Poland
2
Gdański Uniwersytet Medyczny / Medical University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland
(Zakład Toksykologii Klinicznej / Department of Clinical Toxicology)
Med Pr Work Health Saf. 2015;66(5):635-44
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ABSTRACT
Background: In this paper the structure of poisonings is described, based on the material collected from tele-toxicology consults
by the Pomeranian Center of Toxicology in Gdańsk and harvested from its Electronic Poison Information Management System.
In addition, we analyzed conclusions drawn from a 27-month operation of the system. Material and Methods: Data were harvested
from the Electronic Poison Information Management System developed in 2012 and used by the Pomeranian Center of
Toxicology since then. The research was based on 2550 tele-toxicology consults between January 1 and December 31, 2014. Subsequently
the data were electronically cleaned and presented using R programming language. Results: The Pomeranian voivodeship
was the prevalent localisation of calls (N = 1879; 73.7%). Most of the calls came from emergency rooms (N = 1495; 58.63%).
In the case of 1396 (54.7%) patients the time-lag between intoxication and the consult was less than 6 h. There were no differences
in the age distribution between genders. Mean age was 26.3 years. Young people predominated among intoxicated individuals.
The majority of intoxications were incidental (N = 888; 34.8%) or suicidal (N = 814; 31.9%) and the most of them took place in the
patient’s home. Conclusions: Information about Poison Control Center consultations access should be better spread among medical
service providers. The extent of poison information collected by Polish Poison Control Centers should be limited and unified.
This should contribute to the increased percentage of properly documented consultations. Additional duties stemming from the
need of digital archiving of consults provided, require the involvement of additional staff, leading to the increased operation costs
incurred by Poison Control Centers. Med Pr 2015;66(5):635–644