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Background: Poison centers are faced with the escalating costs of specialist staffing and increased investments in hardware and databases despite deficit funding. We developed an automated fax information system to access poison information from any fax machine without special training or equipment., Methods: We provided a 3-month trial service of the fax system in conjunction with the regular operator-based service and analyzed the fax access log, followed by a questionnaire to the 2204 affiliate members regarding the use of the fax., Results: A total 657 accesses to the fax system were made, of which 105 (16%) were unsuccessful; 342 (52%) were made to retrieve the user's manual, 85 (13%) to retrieve the index pages, and 230 (35%) to retrieve documentation on specific substances. The most frequently accessed items concerned disc battery ingestion (13.5%), salicylates (10.3%), mamushi viper (7.1%), acetaminophen (5.8%), and sodium hypochlorite (3.8%). The questionnaires were returned by 666 (30.2%) members; 93 (14%) had actually used the fax system with the average frequency of 1.8 times/user, 63% (59/93) of the respondents considered the service satisfactory, and 33% (31/93) said it was somewhat unsatisfactory., Conclusions: The automated fax information system was accepted and handled by users with only minor difficulty. A facsimile information service may have a valuable role in providing poisoning information and has potential benefits in cases of environmental disasters.

Background: Poison centers are struggling with the concept of service quality and how to improve it. The business world has dealt with this concept by establishing internationally agreed-upon criteria for quality management. Poison centers deliver health care services and can benefit from the approach taken by the corporate community., Methods: This review article takes the criteria of quality management proposed by the ISO 9000 series guidelines and demonstrates their applicability to poison center operations by translating the business jargon of the ISO 9000 series into terminology more familiar to health care professionals and by providing examples and approaches to satisfy specific guidelines. This article offers poison center staff a framework to help them understand how to improve the quality of service they provide.

Objective: To describe Poison Information in Russia., Results: The Moscow Toxicology Information and Advisory Center was created in 1993 as an institution of the Russian Federation Ministry of Health and Medical Industry. The Toxicology Information and Advisory Center is the first in a network of over 20 toxicology information centers to be created in different regions of Russia by 1998. At present the Toxicology Information and Advisory Center serves over 20 million people in the Moscow region with episodic inquiries from other areas. A prototype national bank of clinical and toxicological data on acute chemical poisoning and an information retrieval system POISON have been created. Work is underway to create computerized systems for data analysis of telephone inquiries on diagnosis and treatment protocols of acute poisoning.

Objective: To describe the national poison information program in Poland., Results: There are nine regional poison information centers in Poland associated with acute poisoning wards or diagnostic laboratories. The National Poison Information Center in Lodz prepares information materials (ITOX database, books, periodicals, leaflets, posters) on treatment and prevention to regional and other health care units treating acute poisoning cases and to the general public. The staff of the National Poison Information Center together with the physicians of the Clinic of Acute Poisonings provide a 24 h poison information service accessible to health care units, work safety services, and the general public.

Plant identification in response to poison control inquiries poses problems for medical staff and botanists alike. Lack of a specimen for verification combined with a limited description by an untrained lay person hinders confident identification of the plant. In view of these problems a computer identification system has been developed for use in answering poison control calls. A database has been compiled for 103 common houseplants described in lay terms, with respect to 56 features each possessing a number of possible states. The database is used with the MS-DOS polyclave program ONLIN6. Identifications are made by entering data for available features, so as to eliminate taxa until a single taxon remains. This system has been used in 112 mock calls in which the resulting identification could be checked. These trials resulted in correct identifications 65% of the time. Errors were attributed primarily to problems related to translation of character states into lay terminology. Revision of the database is planned that will eliminate these problems. Use of the system by hospital personnel is recommended only after graphics screens have been added to the database, and where staff have been specially trained in botanical terminology and in use of the ONLIN6 program.