Evaluation of a computerized program (ARSENIC) as an aid for telephone consultations in a poison center

ARSENIC is a computerized system providing assistance for telephone consultation in poison centers. Its main characteristic is to blend the document consultation process with the case-recording procedure. It has been used in the daily routine of our poison center since 1987. To evaluate this system, 2 weeks were randomly chosen. During one, ARSENIC was used by the telephone responders; during the other week, traditional paper documents and files were used. Document search times, coding times and quality of responders were recorded by a blinded observer and analysed in total and on the basis of the training of the telephone officer (medical student, resident or toxicologist). ARSENIC decreased the document search times (3.1 +/- 2.7 min vs 3.8 +/- 2.9 min; p less than 0.05) and did not increase coding time (2.1 +/- 1.2 min vs 2.2 +/- 1.4 min; NS). For each group of telephone responders, answer quality increased with ARSENIC. More important, the answer quality of less-trained officers using ARSENIC was similar to that of trained toxicologists without ARSENIC. The quality assurance given by ARSENIC was, for us, the most important argument for computer use at telephone desks.