The effectiveness of a remote access hotline service for the handling of night shift calls

In order to justify dedicated staff for night calls, improve the quality of our handling of these calls, and qualify for certification by the AAPCC, we sought an alternative to hiring dedicated night staff. We offered our certified staff members the opportunity to fulfill part of their regular duties answering night calls from home. We set them up with a computer system, dedicated telephone line, texts and consultant information. They were able to access the Poison Center hotline computer via a remote access program. A significant increase took place in the number of documented calls to the Poison Center during the midnight to 8:00 am shift. Quality of documentation also improved significantly and level of service has been complemented by callers. The remote access method is a viable way for a small Poison Center to cover the night shift with certified, reliable, capable staff. This method of call answering has solved our major problem of hiring night staff who would satisfy requirements and provide excellent service.