Telephonic Medical Toxicology Service in a Low-Resource Setting: Setup, Challenges, and Opportunities

• Authors: Eveline Hitti, American University of Beirut; Tharwat El Zahran, Emory University; Hani Hamade, American University of Beirut; Brent Morgan, Emory University; Ziad Kazzi, Emory University
• Journal Title: WESTERN JOURNAL OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE
• Volume: Volume 22, Number 2
• Publisher: WESTJEM | 2021-03-01, Pages 450-453
• Type of Work: Article | Final Publisher PDF
• Publisher DOI: http://doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2020.10.48534
• Subjects: Health Sciences, Toxicology
• Keywords: Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Emergency Medicine; TELEMEDICINE

Abstract

Poisoning and envenomation are a global health problem for which the mortality burden is shouldered heavily by middle- and low-income countries that often lack poison prevention programs and medical toxicology expertise. Although telehealth or teleconsult services have been used to bridge the expertise gap between countries for multiple specialties, the use of medical toxicology teleconsult services across borders has been limited. We aim to describe the use of a United States-based medical toxicology teleconsult service to support patient care at a hospital in a middle-income country that lacks this expertise. This report outlines the logistics involved in setting up such a service, including the challenges and opportunities that emerged from establishing medical toxicology teleconsult service in a low-resource setting.