Oct-Dec, 2011 - Indian Journal of Pharmacy Practice

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Shobha C - Poison Information Center-An Overview of its Significance, Organization and FunctioningOrganisation of Poison Information CenterThe organisation pattern of PIC should be based onanticipated 'ideal human exposure call volume'. Majority ofPICs are situated in the hospital and connected to the public13health service of the country at national or regional level.Networking with all other existing PICs that are integratedwith regional PICs and national PIC in for better utilization ofavailable resources and developing national database on13,14poisoning. It is also important to have analyticallaboratories to provide analytical services for themanagement of poisoned patients. Financial support is alsoessential to operate PIC effectively. The government shouldcommit its resources and offer for financial support to PICs,as it is concerned with public health. The centre can alsoremain independent and autonomous by generating its ownrevenue.Staff:Table 1: Roles of poison information centerRoles of poison information centerProvision of poison information servicesManagement of poisoning casesToxicological analytical servicesToxicovigilanceConducting education and training of healthcare professionalsConducting education and awareness program for publicregarding prevention of accidental poisoningDevelopment of treatment protocols for poison managementThe PIC is usually staffed by a physician (Medical director), apharmacist (Technical director), an administrator, at least onemedical toxicologist, adequate number of poison informationspecialists and a secretary. Poison information specialist maybe a pharmacist/nurse/medical scientist. The poisoninformation specialist must be health care professionals inorder to interact freely with physicians while providingconsultative services and interpret basic toxicologyinformation. Pharmacist's educational, and backgroundknowledge about pharmacology, drug products,pharmacokinetics, drug interactions, adverse drug reactions,therapeutic drug use and clinical experience place them in aunique position to contribute in poison information services.The integration of knowledge with the skills of informationretrieval, drug information evaluation, patient history takingand communication skills has been a strong asset topharmacist to perform as poison information specialist.The responsibility of medical and technical directors is topromote research, raise funds, and undertake the furtherdevelopment of the information service. The medicalfunctions of the centre must be the responsibility of a medicaltoxicologist. The poison information specialists should betrained properly to carry out the basic functions of the centre.Responsibilities of the poison information specialist include;the provision of poison information, preparation of standardprotocols, maintain accurate record of all queries, participatein continuing education, update and maintain informationresources and to carry out research activities.It is also desirable to have an administrative director, who isresponsible for the financial, administrative, and other nonmedicalaspects of the centre. In addition, it is better to havepart-time medical toxicologists, poison informationspecialists, and administrative and support staff for smoothand round the clock functioning of the centre. Poisoninformation center also needs advisors in various medical andnon medical fields like botany, zoology, mycology, statisticsand other areas of information management.Location:The feasible location for PIC is within the hospital or a placeclosely associated with the hospital, which has emergency13and intensive care services . Such a setup will provide readyaccess to a network of medical disciplines that will supportand enhance the work of the centre.Facilities and equipment:PIC should be placed in a spacious room with minimum of200 sq ft or working area with basic furniture for staff. Thelibrary should be well equipped with book shelves and filingcabinets for storage of case records and documentation filesfor systemic collection and easy retrieval of the data. Alockable cabinet should also be available to store confidentialdata. Poison information center should be equipped properlywith equipments for communication and to carry out the13functions of centre effectively. Minimum two telephoneswith toll free number are to be reserved to receive the queries.It is essential to have fast and reliable communicationequipment facility such as fax and e-mail. The PIC should tobe equipped adequately with computer, printer andphotocopying machine. For toxicological screening servicesPIC should have laboratory which carries out toxicologicalanalysis.Information resources:Poison information resources are of different types including15primary, secondary, tertiary resources. It is essential to haveall type of resources to provide information. Poisoninformation specialist should have searching and evaluationskills in all type of resources to provide correct and relevantinformation. In tertiary resources the standard textbooks ofIndian Journal of Pharmacy Practice Volume 4 Issue 4 Oct - Dec, 2011 16
Shobha C - Poison Information Center-An Overview of its Significance, Organization and Functioningmedicine (general and pediatric), chemistry, pharmacology,analytical toxicology and animal and plant toxins of theregion and standard medical dictionaries are essential. List ofthe medicines, agricultural and other chemical products andtheir ingredients available in the local market and also thelocal pharmacopoeia should also be present. Secondarysources such as Poisindex, Hypertox, Intox and Toxinz aremust for the retrieval of quick and updated information. Manyof the countries have their own databases for the productsavailable in their region. However, the countries which do nothave such databases can select the specific and relevantdatabase which fulfills their needs. Many databases areavailable both on line and on compact disc format (CD-ROM). Primary resources include journals of medicine andtoxicology, for the updated and recent advances in a particulararea. Apart from these resources it is important to developeducational material such as posters on the safe use ofpesticides and chemicals, booklets and leaflets on safe storageof medicines and house hold products at home, and thetreatment protocols of the most common type of poisoning for16clinicians. The list of tertiary, secondary and primaryresources are given in Table 2, 3 and 4 respectively.Table 2: Minimum tertiary poison information resources requiredSl.No Title1 Lindsay Murray, Frank Dary,Mark Little, MikesCadogan, editors. Toxicology handbook. Australia:Churchils Livingstone,Elsevier;20072 Richard C drat, Katherine, M.Hurlbut, Edwin, K, Kuffur,Luke yip.The 5 minute toxicology consult.,currentedition. Philidelphia:Lippincott Williams and wilkins.3 Timothy B,Erickson,William R.Athrens,Steven.E.AK,cart K.Baun,Louis J.Ling. editors.Pediatric toxicology diagnosis and management of thepoisoned child. USA. Mcgraw-Hill; 2005.4 Kent R.Olson,editor.Poisoning and drug overdose.Mcgraw –Hill companies.2004.5 Oserhoudt, perrone, Derros,Henvetic,editor.Toxicologypearls: Philidelphia. Hanley & Belfus.20046 Ellenhorn MJ,Schonwald S, Ordog G,WasserbergJ,editors.Elenhorns medical toxicology diagnosis andtreatment of human poisoning currentedition,Baltimore:Williams and Wilkins;20067 Baselt RC, Cravey RH. Disposition of toxic drugs andchemicals in man, 4th ed. Foster City, CA, ChemicalToxicology Institute, 1995.8 Indian pharmacopoeia9 United states of pharmacopoeia10 British national formularyTable 3: Minimum secondary poison information resources requiredSl.No Title1 Poisindex2 Hypertox3 Toxbase4 Intox5 ToxinzTable 4: Minimum primary poison information resources requiredSl.No Title1 On-line journal scanning services, eg AMEDEO,Current Awareness in Clinical Toxicology2 Clinical toxicology3 Indian Journal of Toxicology4 Indian Journal of Environment & toxicologyFunctioning of Poison Information CenterLegal and ethical prerequisites:Poison information center should be officially recognised bygovernment authorities and ideally by WHO. To carry out thefunctions effectively, the centre should have independentstatus, stability and neutrality. A centre may also have agoverning body to provide policy guidance and assist in fundraising. However the governing body should not involve itselfin the daily activities of the centre. According to legalrequirement, the centre should maintain confidentiality of thedata it handles. Usually the centre should provide theinformation free of cost to enquirers.Policies and procedures:For the effective functioning of the center, it should have welldefined and need based policies and procedures. The policiesand procedures may vary from one center to anotherdepending on scope of service, financial support and center'srequirements. Considering all factors PIC should developpolicies for personnel, method of operation, documentationof service and quality assurance program, staff training,14,15confidentiality, ethical and legal aspects. Policiespertaining to personnel should indicate the mode ofrecruitment of personnel, qualifications and training requiredif any, position of staff with distinct responsibilities. Methodof operation should majorly comprise of handling ofpoisoning cases starting from receipt of query till thedocumentation. A detailed policies and procedures are to beestablished with respect to quality assurance program andquality improvement strategies. Similarly the guidelines forstaff training and confidentiality are crucial.Indian Journal of Pharmacy Practice Volume 4 Issue 4 Oct - Dec, 2011 17
Page 1 and 2: Indian Journal of Pharmacy Practice
Page 3 and 4: Dear ReadersIndian Journal of Pharm
Page 5 and 6: Daxesh M P - Combating Antimicrobia
Page 13 and 14: J. Chang - India's Progress towards
Page 15 and 16: J. Chang - India's Progress towards
Page 17: Shobha C - Poison Information Cente
Page 21 and 22: Shobha C - Poison Information Cente
Page 25 and 26: Anantha Naik N -Health Related Qual
Page 33 and 34: Amrita P - Scenario of Pharmacovigi
Page 42 and 43: Satyanarayana V - Evaluation of the
Page 52 and 53: Dinesh KU - Evaluation of the Impac
Page 66 and 67: Pratham R - A Retrospective Study o
Page 68 and 69:
Indian Journal of Pharmacy Practice
Page 70 and 71:
Anoop P -Impact of Clinical Pharmac
Page 72 and 73:
Page 74 and 75:
Page 76 and 77:
Singh B -Respiratory Tract Problems
Page 78 and 79:
Singh B -Respiratory Tract Problems
Page 80 and 81:
Mihir Y.P - Study of Prescribing Pa
Page 82 and 83:
Indian Journal of Pharmacy Practice
Page 84 and 85:
Ramanath K.V -Evaluation of the Imp
Page 86 and 87:
Ramanath K.V -Evaluation of the Imp
Page 88 and 89:
Instructions to AuthorsIntroduction
Page 90:
Instructions to AuthorsElectronic j
show all

Oct-Dec, 2011 - Indian Journal of Pharmacy Practice

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?