An-Najah Staff

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the current situation regarding clinical toxicology training among Emergency Department health care professionals in Malaysian  hospitals.
Methodology: This cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative study was carried out using a  structured questionnaire. The study was conducted from April to September 2008. All  questionnaires were sent by registered mail to 128 government hospitals all over Malaysia. Data were entered and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences programme (SPSS) version 16. Data were analyzed descriptively as frequencies and percentages; Chisquare was used to test differences between groups.
Results: Seventy-four (58.3%) out of 127 hospitals responded and completed the questionnaire. The hospitals were classified into 3 categories: 59% were District Hospitals without specialists, 26% were District Hospitals with specialists and 15% were General Hospitals. It was found that, the training related to clinical toxicology among medical officers and nurses were as high as 76.2% and 68.3% respectively but much lower among pharmacists (45%). Analysis according to hospital type revealed that all General Hospitals had trained their medical officers, while the District Hospitals without specialist had only 67.9% of their medical officers trained. Classroom seminar (50%) was the most common mode of training identified in  all hospitals.  General Hospitals were significantly higher than other types of hospital in providing 3 types of training topics; namely: principles of quick clinical diagnosis (54.5%, p = 0.005), decontamination techniques (45.5%, p = 0.03) and recognition of life-threatening symptoms (72.7%, p = 0.02). Frequency of providing training varies in most cases but majority of the hospitals have plans to conduct training in the future.  Conclusion and recommendation: Clinical Toxicology is a multidisciplinary area. The results showed there was a marked variation in the extent of training provided among different Emergency Department health care professionals particularly the pharmacist and those health professionals working in the Accident and Emergency of District Hospitals. These findings highlight the need for a training program for Emergency Department health care professionals who are providing clinical toxicology services.