A 10-Year Review of the Teaching Hospital-Based National Drug and Toxicology Information Service in Zimbabwe

Abstract

SUMMARYThe drug and toxicology information service (DaTIS), at the Department of Pharmacy, University of Zimbabwe Medical School, was set up in 1979. The service is mainly delivered to health professionals and to a lesser extent to the community, The DaTIS is designed to help solve complex clinical questions. Most of the requests are made by telephone. Urgent questions may be initially answered by telephone, or a phone call can be returned after in-depth documentation. A complete answer with references may be written and sent to the enquirer. Written non-urgent questions may be sent a few days to a few weeks later.This report is based on a systematic review of records compiled over the period between January 1983 and July 1988. Of the 1,000 requests received and recorded during the period under consideration, approximately 750 (75';;) were on drug information and 250 (25%) were on poisoning or toxicological information. The most common causes of poisonings were due to organophosphate pesticides and fertilizers, Elephant's Ear, Amanita Phalloides mushroom, medicines affecting the central nervous system, e.g. tranquilizers, psychotropics, and chemicals, especially those used for hair relaxing. Only the first three causes of poisoning are discussed in detail. Most of the queries relating to poisoning, especially those received during the night, were not recorded. These results confirm the need for an adequate number of qualified and committed manpower to share the work-load in DaTIS as well as in teaching, research and in the continuous health education of the community. The results obtained by DaTIS and a recent survey (14) indicate that Zimbabwe has a big poisoning problem, especially with regard to pesticides and treatments recommended by the traditional healer. Education and information dissemination to health professionals, workers and the general public on the toxic agents concerned are vita1 and, although steps have been taken in this direction, much still remains to be Correspondence: Dr 0. J. Kasilo. 355

Drug information in Zimbabwe: 1990–1999

“…The initial review of DaTIS operations reported that about a quarter of users were physicians and a similar proportion pharmacists [5] and the same picture was observed in this data. However, interesting differences were found when separating DI and toxicology reports.…”

“…An earlier publication provides a review of the activities of DaTIS and an analysis of the enquiries received between January 1983 and July 1988 against which the current data is compared [5]. Over a five and half year period, Kasilo and Froese [5] observed that DaTIS received ÔÔabout 1000'' enquiries at a mean rate of 181.8 questions per annum, compared to 142.9 p.a. in this data.…”

“…About 70% of the population live in rural areas without reliable communications. A drug information bulletin has been produced and distributed to all health centres in an attempt to assist with the medicine and poison information needs of rural health workers [5].…”

“…Whilst guidelines for establishing a drug information service in developing countries have been published [4], few centres in sub-Saharan Africa have managed to sustain themselves. The Drug and Toxicology Information Service (DaTIS) was established at the University of Zimbabwe in 1979 to fill a perceived need for unbiased drug information and to assist clinicians in the management of the poisoned patient [5]. Since its inception, it has been run as a clinical service by pharmacists in the Department of Pharmacy, with the bulk of the responsibility falling on those based in the Clinical Pharmacy section.…”

“…The operation of DaTIS has been recognised by the Ministry of Health, which provides a small grant each year and has covered payment of the telephone line. Further details of the modus operandi and the first 10 years of operation have been reviewed previously [5]. The aim of the study was to compare the next decade of service in comparison so as to learn lessons and look towards the future of the provision of drug information in Zimbabwe.…”