Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:27:56.175Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Poison Control Center Surge Capacity during an Unusual Increase in Call Volume–Results from a Natural Experiment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Zdravko P. Vassilev ,
John Kashani ,
Bruce Ruck ,
Robert S. Hoffman  and
Steven M. Marcus
Zdravko P. Vassilev*
Affiliation:
New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, Newark, New Jersey, USA Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, USA
John Kashani
Affiliation:
New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, Newark, New Jersey, USA Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, USA
Bruce Ruck
Affiliation:
New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, Newark, New Jersey, USA Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, USA
Robert S. Hoffman
Affiliation:
New York City Poison Control Center, New York, New York, USA
Steven M. Marcus
Affiliation:
New Jersey Poison Information and Education System, Newark, New Jersey, USA Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, USA
*
Zdravko Vassilev, MD, MPH Medical Director, Epidemiology Late Stage Developmental Services Covance Inc. 206 Carnegie Center Princeton, NJ 08540 USA E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Introduction:

Poison Control Centers (PCCs) play an integral role in the preparation for and management of poison emergencies. Large-scale public health disasters, caused by both natural and human factors, may result in a drastic increase in the number of inquiries received and handled by Poison Control Centers (PCCs) in short periods of time. In order to plan and prepare for such public health emergencies, it is important for PCCs to assess their ability tohandle the surge in call volume and to examine how the unusually large number of calls could affect the level of services. On 26 January 2006, the New York City Poison Center experienced a sudden loss of telephone service.The disruption in telephone service led to the need to reroute calls from that geographical catchment area to the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System (NJPIES) for several hours.

Methods:

Data from the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System was abstracted from the telephone switch's internal reporting system and the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System's electronic record system and processed with a standard spreadsheet application.

Results:

Compared to the same time and day in the previous week, the total number of calls received by the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System during the four hours after the disruption increased by 148%. A substantial rise in the number of calls was observed in almost every 15-minute increment during this four-hour (h) time period (with some of these increments increasing as much as 525%). Meanwhile, the percentage of calls answered by the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System decreased, and the percentage of calls abandoned during a 15-minute increment reached as high as 62%. Furthermore, the average time for handling calls was longer than usual in most of these 15-minute increments.

Conclusions:

Limitations of the telephone technology, which impacted the ability of the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System to respond to the surge of calls, were observed. While the New Jersey Poison Information and Education System was able to handle the unusual increase of incoming calls using available poison specialists and staff, the experience gained from this natural experiment demonstrates the need for Poison Control Centres to have a pre-planned surge capacity protocol that can be implemented rapidly during a public health emergency. A number of challenges that Poison Control Centres must meet in order to have adequate surge capacity during such events were identified.

Keywords

call volumeeducationpoison controlpreparednesssurge capacitytraining
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , February 2007 , pp. 55 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Kile, JC, Skowronski, S, Miller, MD et al. : Impact of 2003 power outages on public health and emergency response. Prehosp Disast Med 2005;20(2):93–97.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2.Shapiro, DS: Surge capacity for response to bioterrorism in hospital clinical microbiology laboratories. J Clin Microbiol 2003;41(12):5372–5376.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Optimizing Surge Capacity: Regional Efforts in Bioterrorism Readiness. Bioterrorism and Health System Preparedness. Available at http://www.ahrq.gov/news/ulp/btbriefs/btbrief4.htm. Accessed January 2006.Google Scholar
4.Watson, W, Litovitz, T, Rodgers, G et al. : 2004 Annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers Toxic Exposure Surveillance System. Am J Emerg Med 2005;25(5):589–666.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5.Forrester, MB, Stanley, SK: Calls about anthrax to the Texas Poison Center Network in relation to the anthrax bioterrorism attack in 2001. Vet Hum Toxicol 2003;45(5):247–248.Google Scholar
6.LoVecchio, F, Katz, K, Watts, D et al. : Media influence onpoison control center call volume after 11 September 2001. Prehosp Disast Med 2004;19(2):185. (Letter)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7.Shepherd, G, Keyes, DC, Borys, DJ et al. : Space shuttle Columbia disaster: Utilization of Poison Control Centers in Texas and Louisiana. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol 2004;42(4):389–390.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8.Mrvos, R, Piposzar, JD, Stein, TM et al. : Regional pharmaceutical preparation for biological and chemical terrorism. J Toxicol Clin Toxicol 2003;41(1):17–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9.Hendrickson, RG, Hedges, JR: Introduction' What critical care practitioners should know about terrorism agents. Crit Care Clin 2005;21(4):641–652.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed