Specialist discrimination of toxic exposure severity at a poison control center

Poynton, Mollie R.; Bennett, Heather; Ellington, Lee; Crouch, Barbara Insley; Caravati, E. Martin; Jasti, Srichand

doi:10.1080/15563650903140407

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…6 Recent work however suggests that initial scores may not be as accurate as later assessments in judging the actual severity and in particular underestimate the ultimate toxicity in severe cases. 7 This was acknowledged by the authors of the PSS system who recognized its limitations as an outcome predictor. 1 In the current work, we have used the PSS to assess severity based on the return data provided by the healthcare professionals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Systematic differences between healthcare professionals and poison information staff in the severity scoring of pesticide exposures

Adams

Gibson

Good

et al. 2010

Clinical Toxicology

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Our findings suggest inherent differences in the perception of pesticide toxicity between healthcare professionals and SPIs. There was also a difference in the scoring approach depending on the pesticide involved. Additional investigations are required to define the role and accuracy of severity scoring in different types of poisoning and the applicability to different types of severity assessors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Systematic differences between healthcare professionals and poison information staff in the severity scoring of pesticide exposures

Adams

Gibson

Good

et al. 2010

Clinical Toxicology

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“…1, high call volume periods are unpredictable and uncommon events, making them difficult to study. In order to systematically evaluate the potential impact of high volume call periods on PCCs, we used data collected for a larger study 3–5 to identify the most active periods (99th percentile) of SPI activity as high volume time based on call volume. We evaluated five statistical models (probability distributions) and found that the Weibull distribution for “calls per SPI per 30-minute period” most consistently identified time periods that were busier than 99% of all other time periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3–5 All calls to the emergency hotline were routed to an automatic call distributor (ACD) that “answers” the call and a descriptive option menu is played for the caller. When the caller selects the “poisoning or overdose” option, the call is routed to ring on the phone of an available SPI.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3–5 In the parent project, human exposure cases in which calls were made by a lay person (i.e. non-health care provider) were coded using Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SPI's initial impression of severity was collected as previously described. 5 The stratification was balanced with respect to age and unbalanced with respect to initial SPI severity. Our sample for communication coding was drawn to contain 81.8% cases with initial severity rating of moderate or major and 18.2% cases with an initial severity rating of no or minor effect, where the entire population consisted of cases with an initial severity rating of 5.7% moderate or major outcome and 94.3% no or minor effect.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High call volume at poison control centers: identification and implications for communication

Caravati

Latimer

Reblin

et al. 2012

Clinical Toxicology

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Context High volume surges in health care are uncommon and unpredictable events. Their impact on health system performance and capacity is difficult to study. Objectives To identify time periods that exhibited very busy conditions at a poison control center and to determine whether cases and communication during high volume call periods are different from cases during low volume periods. Methods Call data from a US poison control center over twelve consecutive months was collected via a call logger and an electronic case database (Toxicall®). Variables evaluated for high call volume conditions were: (1) call duration; (2) number of cases; and (3) number of calls per staff member per 30 minute period. Statistical analyses identified peak periods as busier than 99% of all other 30 minute time periods and low volume periods as slower than 70% of all other 30 minute periods. Case and communication characteristics of high volume and low volume calls were compared using logistic regression. Results A total of 65,364 incoming calls occurred over 12 months. One hundred high call volume and 4885 low call volume 30 minute periods were identified. High volume periods were more common between 1500 and 2300 hours and during the winter months. Coded verbal communication data were evaluated for 42 high volume and 296 low volume calls. The mean (standard deviation) call length of these calls during high volume and low volume periods was 3 minutes 27 seconds (1 minute 46 seconds) and 3 minutes 57 seconds (2 minutes 11 seconds), respectively. Regression analyses revealed a trend for fewer overall verbal statements and fewer staff questions during peak periods, but no other significant differences for staff-caller communication behaviors were found. Conclusion Peak activity for poison center call volume can be identified by statistical modeling. Calls during high volume periods were similar to low volume calls. Communication was more concise yet staff was able to maintain a good rapport with callers during busy call periods. This approach allows evaluation of poison exposure call characteristics and communication during high volume periods.

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Incidence and Characteristics of Snakebite Envenomations in the New York State Between 2000 and 2010

Joslin

Marraffa

Singh

et al. 2014

Wilderness & Environmental Medicine

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Specialist discrimination of toxic exposure severity at a poison control center

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Systematic differences between healthcare professionals and poison information staff in the severity scoring of pesticide exposures

Systematic differences between healthcare professionals and poison information staff in the severity scoring of pesticide exposures

High call volume at poison control centers: identification and implications for communication

Incidence and Characteristics of Snakebite Envenomations in the New York State Between 2000 and 2010

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