Queensland Poisons Information Centre Annual Report 2019 13 11 26 www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/poisonsinformationcentre Poisons Information Centre Queensland Children’s Hospital Pharmacy Department, Level 2 501 Stanley Street South Brisbane Qld 4101 Table of Contents Mission Statement ............................................................................................................................................................ 4 Services and Operation ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 Location ......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Telephone Access .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Hours of Operation ........................................................................................................................................................ 4 Website .......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Personnel ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5 External Consultants ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 Strategic Planning Activities ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Clinical Governance and Quality Assurance Activities .................................................................................................... 8 Toxicovigilance Activities .................................................................................................................................................. 9 Research Activities ............................................................................................................................................................ 9 Publications ................................................................................................................................................................. 10 Conference Presentations and Attendance ................................................................................................................ 10 Published guidelines .................................................................................................................................................... 12 Poisoning Prevention/Harm Reduction Activities ......................................................................................................... 12 Poisons Education by QPIC Staff .................................................................................................................................... 12 Examples of Calls ............................................................................................................................................................. 13 Poisoning Call Analysis .................................................................................................................................................... 15 Annual trending of calls ............................................................................................................................................... 15 Monthly trending of calls ............................................................................................................................................. 15 Hourly trending of calls................................................................................................................................................ 16 Call Types: Human and animal calls ............................................................................................................................ 16 Caller category ............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Call analysis – exposures ................................................................................................................................................ 18 Patient type: Human age category and animal exposures .......................................................................................... 18 Exposure Type - Human exposures ............................................................................................................................. 19 Poisoning exposures and recommended management setting by age group. ........................................................... 20 Patient Gender – Human exposures – by age group ................................................................................................... 21 Route of exposure of poisonings ................................................................................................................................. 22 Exposure location – Human cases ............................................................................................................................... 23 Top 10 Poison classes involved in human exposures across all age groups (recalls excluded) .................................. 24 Top 10 Poison classes involved in exposures in children up to the age of 5 years ..................................................... 25 Top 10 individual agents involved in exposures in children up to the age of 5 years ................................................. 26 Call analysis – queries ..................................................................................................................................................... 27 Query types involving humans .................................................................................................................................... 27 Top 10 agents involved in human queries across all age groups ................................................................................ 28 References ....................................................................................................................................................................... 28 Appendix: Queensland Poisons Information Centre Poison Statistics ......................................................................... 29 Mission Statement To improve patient outcomes by providing the public and health professionals with prompt, consistent, up-to-date and individualised advice in situations of poisonings and suspected poisonings. How do we do this? • Members of the public may be given first aid instructions, potential symptoms to watch for, advice on the need for medical attention in poisonings, and general advice on poisoning prevention. Unnecessary visits to medical facilities may be avoided in minor accidental poisonings by the timely provision of advice and reassurance. • Health professionals are given specific advice regarding the management of poisoned patients with the support of clinical toxicologist advice where required. • The QPIC is committed to improve outcomes for poisoned patients through ongoing research and toxicovigilance activities. Services and Operation Location The Queensland Poisons Information Centre (QPIC) has been in operation since 1973 and is based at the Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) in South Brisbane. Queensland Poisons Information Centre Queensland Children’s Hospital Pharmacy Department Level 2 501 Stanley St South Brisbane QLD 4101 Telephone Access The Queensland Poisons Information Centre can be reached on 13 11 26. This number is available Australia-wide for the cost of a local call (excluding mobile phones). The QPIC predominately receives calls from Queensland and Northern New South Wales but manages calls from across the country on rostered overnight shifts. Hours of Operation The QPIC operates Monday to Sunday (08:30 to 21:00). Outside these hours, calls are diverted to the NSW Poisons Information Centre. Only one centre operates overnight, taking calls from across Australia. The overnight calls are shared between the four centres: NSW, WA, VIC and QLD. Website For more information, visit the Queensland Poisons Information website at https://www.childrens.health.qld.gov.au/poisonsinformationcentre Personnel The QPIC employs a team of pharmacists specialising in toxicology to handle poisoning and related calls and to undertake activities aimed at reducing poisonings and improving outcomes from poisonings. Director Dr Sonya Stacey BPharm PhD Adv.Prac.Pharm Clinical Lead Carol Wylie B Pharm, Grad Dip Hosp Clin Pharm Medical Director Dr Katherine Isoardi BMedicine, FACEM, GradDipClinTox Dr Isoardi provided an on-call weekday toxicology consultant service to the QPIC for poisoning cases of a complex nature. In addition, she supported the ongoing continuing education program, protocol and guideline development and was a spokesperson for the centre on poisoning related issues. Consultant Fellows Dr Keith Harris MBChB, FACEM, Dr Iain McNeil MBChB FACEM GradDipClinTox. CHIA Dr Ruth Young B.Med.Sc, MD, FACEM These Doctors are currently undergoing specialised training in clinical toxicology and under Dr Isoardi’s