Thursday 13 April 2023 9:35am
Otago's National Poisons Centre, is the only service of it's kind in Aotearoa, providing a 24/7 service for the general public and healthcare professionals. Back Row L to R (standing): Robin Slaughter, Yvette Millard, Lucy Shieffelbien, AJ Barnes. Front Row L to R (seated): Dr Adam Pomerleau, Lucas Hay, Christina Needham.
The National Poisons Centre (NPC) has recently moved to new offices in the Wellcome building in Frederick Street, central Dunedin.
The centre was based in the Adams Building for many years, and for the past two years had been operating from the Zoology building. The team of 15 includes a Director and Deputy Director (who are both specialist clinicians), eleven Poison Information Officers and Specialists, a Service Delivery Manager and a Research Fellow.
NPC Director Adam Pomerleau says the centre has been part of the University of Otago since it was established in 1964. The NPC is part of the University’s Health Sciences Division. It is the only service of its kind in Aotearoa New Zealand and has many areas of activity. It provides a freely accessible telehealth service 24/7 for the general public, with risk assessment and advice for actual or suspected poisonings. It provides health professionals a 24/7 consultation service with expert medical specialists for the clinical treatment of poisonings.
The centre also produces research focused on poisoning epidemiology and clinical care, recently completing a multi-year grant-funded translational project that developed the first national antidote stocking guideline for hospital pharmacies. It contributes to teaching a variety of health science and professional students as well as healthcare professionals around the country.
“Our team is very excited to be in a newly renovated space that is fit-for-purpose and set up for all of us to succeed in our respective roles. I think the facilities will meet the team’s needs well into the future. Our service helps people from all parts of the country every day, often in a moment of crisis and often with high stakes for an individual’s health and wellbeing – it’s a challenging but also very rewarding mission. Working in a space that reflects this responsibility and promotes a harmonious environment helps to keep our team performing at its best,” Dr Pomerleau says.
Dr Pomerleau says the NPC’s clinical toxicology database TOXINZ™, is a core work output essential for providing poisoning advice and also a resource that is directly used by healthcare providers in different settings across the country. It contains more than 125,000 documents covering poisonous chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plants and animals. It is constantly updated and provides treatment pathways enabling appropriate management of patients and improved outcomes.
TOXINZ™ had more than 443,000 global hits in 2021 (most recent year of data) and 49,000 hits from New Zealand-based healthcare providers. Paracetamol is the most commonly searched item.
The NPC had more than 26,000 direct contacts to its 0800 number in 2021 of which 19 per cent were from healthcare professionals. Most toxic exposures occurred in residential settings (87 per cent), with 2 per cent in school and 4 per cent in the workplace.
Eighty-eight per cent of exposure records in the 0-5 age group were due to children’s exploratory behaviour, while 48 per cent of exposures in the 13-19 age group were due to intentional self-harm.
The NPC currently has user satisfaction rates of 95-100 per cent in monthly feedback surveys.
Anyone concerned that a possible poisoning has occurred should ring the NPC at any time seven days a week on 0800 764 766.
For more information:
Kōrero by Kerry Dohig, Communications Adviser (IT Projects)