Retrospective evaluation of unintentional poisoning involving psychiatric drugs in Malaysia: A study based on calls managed by national poison centre, 2016-2017

Data from the National Poison Centre (NPC) showed that the highest number of poisoning incidents in Malaysia were caused by pharmaceutical products, whereby psychiatric drugs contributed to the most number of cases. While intentional poisoning receives more attention, unintentional poisoning is often overlooked. Therefore, the study designs to evaluate the unintentional poisoning of psychiatric drugs in Malaysia. Telephone enquiries regarding psychiatric drug poisoning were made by healthcare providers to the NPC. Information received was entered into a retrievable database by Drugs and Poison Information Service in the form of a standardized Poison Case Report Form as adapted from the World Health Organization. A retrospective analysis was performed, and data on unintentional poisoning were extracted and evaluated. A total of 619 poisoning cases of psychiatric drugs were reported, whereby 28% (n=133) were caused unintentionally. Demographic analysis showed Perak to record the highest number of cases at 16.5% (n=22), followed by Johor (13.5%, n=18) and Sabah (12.8%, n=17). Unintentional psychiatric poisoning showed almost equal distribution between genders, and Malays reported the highest number at 47.4% (n=63). More than half of the cases (58.6%) occurred among toddlers between 1-4 years old, followed by 17.3% cases among children and adolescents between 5-14 years old. Most of the incidents (99.2%) happened at home, and 88% were due to accidental ingestions. Unintentional poisoning in the household of psychiatric patients has been underestimated, and toddlers and children have been majorly implicated. Therefore, proper education and awareness must be established to ensure human safety.

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Epidemiology and risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia: a retrospective analysis by the National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2019-036048 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (6) ◽

pp. e036048

Author(s):

Nur Azzalia Kamaruzaman ◽

Yin-Hui Leong ◽

Mohd Hafiidz Jaafar ◽

Halilol Rahman Mohamed Khan ◽

Noor Afiza Abdul Rani ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Health Problem ◽

Suicide Attempts ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

World Health ◽

Case Report Form ◽

Pesticide Poisoning ◽

Poison Centre ◽

National Poison ◽

Epidemiological Characteristics

ObjectivePesticide poisoning is a global health problem, and its progressive deterioration is a major cause of concern. The objective of this study is to assess epidemiological characteristics and identify risk factors of pesticide poisoning in Malaysia.SettingPesticide poisoning database of Malaysia National Poison Centre (NPC) from 2006 to 2015.ParticipantsTelephone enquiries regarding pesticide poisoning were made by healthcare professionals. Information received by the NPC was entered into a retrievable database of standardised Poison Case Report Form, as adapted from the World Health Organization (WHO).OutcomesThe outcome of the study is to provide an overview of national epidemiological profile of pesticide poisoning. High-risk groups of people and their circumstances were also identified to ensure that appropriate measures are strategised.ResultsWithin the study period, a total of 11 087 pesticide poisoning cases were recorded. Sixty per cent of these cases were intentional in nature and most were found among male individuals (57%) of the Indian race (36.4%) aged between 20 and 29 years (25.5%), which occurred at home (90%) through the route of ingestion (94%). The highest number of poisoning was due to herbicides (44%) followed by agricultural insecticides (34%), rodenticides (9.9%), household insecticides (9.5%) and fungicides (0.5%). In addition, 93.6% of intentional pesticide poisoning cases were caused by suicide attempts. The results of this study show that there was an increasing trend in pesticide poisoning incidents over the 10-year duration. This indicates that pesticide poisoning is a prevalent public health problem in Malaysia, resulting in an average incidence rate of 3.8 per 100 000 population.ConclusionsDeliberate pesticide ingestion as a method of suicide has become a disturbing trend among Malaysians. Therefore, regulation of highly hazardous pesticides must be enforced to ensure controlled and limited access to these chemicals by the public.

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Evaluation of types of poisoning exposure calls managed by the Malaysia National Poison Centre (2006–2015): A retrospective review

BMJ Open ◽

10.1136/bmjopen-2018-024162 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. e024162 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Balamurugan Tangiisuran ◽

Maryam Jiva ◽

Adilah Mohamed Ariff ◽

Noor Afiza Abdul Rani ◽

Asdariah Misnan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Descriptive Analysis ◽

Pharmaceutical Products ◽

Health Concern ◽

Secondary Outcome ◽

Safety Education ◽

Younger Women ◽

Poison Centre ◽

National Poison ◽

Household Products ◽

Notable Increase

ObjectiveAccidental or intentional poisoning is a public health concern requiring intervention. The current study designs to evaluate the types of poisoning exposure calls received by the Malaysia National Poison Centre (NPC) over a 10-year period.Settings and data sourcesThe poisoning enquiries database (2006–2015) from the Malaysia NPC was used for the analysis.ParticipantsThe NPC records all telephone calls that it manages using a validated and standardised form. Demographics and types of the poisoning exposure calls were extracted and descriptive analysis was applied.Primary and secondary outcomesThe primary outcome of this study is to evaluate NPC data for trends in the poisoning exposure calls based on the types and modes of poisoning over a 10-year period. The secondary outcome is to evaluate the characteristics of human exposure cases based on the calls received by the NPC.ResultsThere was a notable increase in the number of poisoning exposure calls noticed during the 10-year period but dropped significantly in 2012. The highest number of poisoning exposure calls came from Selangor (21.0%), Perak (18.0%) and Negeri Sembilan (9.8%). More than half of the exposure was intentional (53.8%) involving more women (50.3%) as compared with men (41.9%), and in the 20–29 years age group category (33.5%). Exposure mostly occurred at home (96%) through the ingestion route (94.1%). Pharmaceutical products (40.5%), pesticides (31.7%) and household products (20.1%) were the common agents implicated for intentional exposure.ConclusionsThere is an increasing trend in enquiries on poisoning exposure calls made to the NPC. Most of the intentional poisoning exposures occurred among younger women and involved pharmaceuticals, pesticides or household products. Poisoning safety education and other interventions are needed to curb poisoning incidents.

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Psychological/psychiatric impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak: lessons learnt from China and call for timely crisis interventions in Italy

10.31234/osf.io/z26yk ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Patrizia Zeppegno ◽

Carla Gramaglia ◽

Chiara Guerriero ◽

Fabio Madeddu ◽

Raffaella Calati

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Migrant Workers ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Virus Disease ◽

Selection Process ◽

Psychiatric Patients ◽

Homeless People ◽

World Health ◽

Rapid Review ◽

Post Traumatic Stress

Background: The World Health Organization declared the Corona Virus Disease 19 (Covid-19) a pandemic in March 2020. Psychological impact of Covid-19 can be consisent and should be prevented with adequate measures. Methods: We performed a literature mini review searching for studies in PubMed focusing on the psychological/psychiatric impact of Covid-19.Results: The selection process yielded 34 papers focusing on the relation between Covid-19 and mental health: 9 correspondence, 8 letters to the editor, 7 commentaries, 3 editorials, 4 original studies, 2 brief reports, and 1 a rapid review. The majority of the articles were performed in China. They focused on the general population and particular categories considered more fragile, e.g., psychiatric patients, older adults, international migrant workers, homeless people. Authors are unanimous in believing that Covid-19 will likely increase the risk of mental health problems and worsen existing psychiatric disorders/symptoms in patients, exposed subjects, and staff. Together with the negative emotionality related to the unpredictability of the situation, uncertainty concerning the risk, excessive fear, fear of death, loneliness, guilt, stigma, denial, anger, frustration, boredome, some symptoms might appear such as insomnia until patophobia (specifically, coronaphobia), depressive and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidal risk.Limitations: Literature is rapidly increasing and present results are only partial. Conclusions: Mental health care should not be overlooked in this moment. The experience of China should be of help for all the countries facing with Covid-19, among them Italy.

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Issues Impacting Therapeutic Outcomes in Pediatric Patients: An Overview

Current Pediatric Reviews ◽

10.2174/1573396309666131209211017 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 10 (3) ◽

pp. 184-193 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Atin Kalra ◽

Shishu Goindi

Keyword(s):

Pediatric Patients ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

World Health Organisation ◽

Dosage Forms ◽

World Health ◽

Neglected Diseases ◽

Therapeutic Outcomes ◽

Immunodeficiency Virus ◽

Academic Researchers ◽

Child Friendly

The quest for achieving optimal therapeutic outcomes in pediatric patients has evaded the healthcare professionals for long and often lack of child specific dosage forms and the associated events that follow with it have been considered to be major contributor towards suboptimal outcomes. Consequently, there have been sustained efforts over the years to address this issue with the enactment of legislations like Best Pharmaceutical for Children Act (BPCA), Pediatric Research Equity Act (PREA) and Pediatric Regulation by European Union (EU) to incentivise the participation of pharmaceutical industry towards development of child friendly dosage forms. Initiatives taken in past by organisations like World Health Organisation (WHO) and Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) to spur the development of child friendly dosage forms has helped to address issues pertaining to management of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and malaria in pediatric patients. Present efforts aimed at developing child friendly dosage forms include oro-dispersible platforms including thin films and mini-tablets. Despite these leaps and advancements in developing better dosage forms for children, lower therapeutic outcomes in pediatric patients continue to remain an unresolved issue because of detrimental effects of additional factors such as parents understanding of label instructions and complexities involved in executing pediatric clinical studies thus requiring a concerted effort from pharmaceutical companies, academic researchers, parents and healthcare providers to work for better treatment outcomes in children.

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Opinion of mental healthcare providers on the impact of electronic games on psychiatric patients in Saudi Arabia

Informatics in Medicine Unlocked ◽

10.1016/j.imu.2021.100647 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 100647

Author(s):

Sarah Al-zahrani ◽

Arwa Althumairi ◽

Afnan Aljaffary ◽

Asma Alfayez ◽

Demah Alsalman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Saudi Arabia ◽

Psychiatric Patients ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Mental Healthcare ◽

Electronic Games ◽

The Impact

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Training health workers to provide person-centred maternal and newborn health care in Burkina Faso

The International Journal of Person Centered Medicine ◽

10.5750/ijpcm.v3i2.405 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 3 (2) ◽

pp. 154-159

Author(s):

Janet Perkins ◽

Aminata Bargo ◽

Cecilia Capello ◽

Carlo Santarelli

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Burkina Faso ◽

Health Care Providers ◽

Health Workers ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Newborn Health ◽

World Health ◽

Maternal And Newborn Health ◽

Care Providers ◽

Maternal And Newborn

Assuring the provision of person-centred care is critical in maternal and newborn health (MNH). As a component of the national strategy to improve MNH, Burkina Faso Ministry of Health, supported by Enfants du Monde, La Fondation pour le Développement Communautaire/Burkina Faso and UNFPA, is implementing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) framework for Working with Individuals, Families and Communities (IFC) to improve MNH. As a first step in district implementation, participatory community assessments were conducted. These assessments consistently revealed that poor interactions with healthcare providers posed one important barrier preventing women from seeking MNH services. In order to address this barrier, healthcare providers were trained to improve their interpersonal skills and in counselling women. During 2011-12 a total of 175 personnel were trained over a 5-day course developed using a WHO manual. The course was met with enthusiasm as providers expressed their need and desire for such training. Immediate post-test results revealed an impressive increase in knowledge and anecdotal evidence suggests that training has influenced provider’s behaviours in their interactions with women. In addition, health care providers are taking concrete action to build the capabilities of women to experience pregnancy and birth safely by engaging directly with communities. While early findings are promising, an evaluation will be necessary to measure how the training has influenced practices, whether this translates into a shift of perceptions at community level and ultimately its contribution toward promoting person-centred care in Burkina Faso.

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Mental health law in Saudi Arabia

BJPsych International ◽

10.1192/bji.2017.10 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 17-19

Author(s):

Jessica Carlisle

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Saudi Arabia ◽

Psychiatric Patients ◽

International Standards ◽

World Health ◽

Health Law ◽

Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽

Mental Health Law ◽

The Past ◽

Health Organization

During the past 30 years the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has developed an extensive hospital-based mental health system culminating in the passing of a mental health law in 2014. This legislation embodies many of the international standards promoted by the World Health Organization. However, the mechanisms for protecting the human rights of psychiatric patients are neither sufficiently independent nor adequately robust.

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Ethical Issues Arising in Revising Classifications of Mental Disorders

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(09)70333-5 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 24 (S1) ◽

pp. 1-1

Author(s):

N. Sartorius

Keyword(s):

Mental Disorders ◽

Ethical Issues ◽

Task Force ◽

Psychiatric Patients ◽

World Health ◽

Sufficient Evidence ◽

Advisory Group ◽

Diagnostic Systems ◽

The World

The classification of mental disorders in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) will be revised in the course of the next three years and its publication (as the 11th Revision of the ICD) will be published, after the approval of the World Health Assembly in 2014. In parallel, the American Psychiatric Association created a Task Force which has begun work on the proposals for the revision of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual which is to be published as the DSM 5th Revision, in 2012. The World Health Organization has established a special advisory group that should assist it in developing proposals for the classification of mental disorders for the 11th Revision of the ICD and this group collaborates closely with the APA Task Force creating the DSM5 proposals.Numerous ethical issues arise in this process and need to be discussed now so as to inform the process of agreeing on the proposals for the new classifications. They include the importance of an internationally accepted classification as a protection against abuses of psychiatric patients; the need to set the threshold for the diagnosis of a mental disorder at a level ensuring that people with such disorders receive help, the need to avoid imposition of diagnostic systems or categories without sufficient evidence and others. The presentation will briefly discuss the process of constructing the proposals for the new classifications and ways in which the groups established by the WHO and the APA handle these ethical questions.

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Coronavirus Pandemic: Coping with the Psychological Outcomes, Mental Changes, and the “New Normal” During and After COVID-19

10.36811/ojda.2020.110005 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 07-19

Author(s):

Hiba Takieddine ◽

Samaa AL Tabbah

Keyword(s):

Healthcare Providers ◽

Well Being ◽

World Health ◽

Vulnerable Groups ◽

Public Health Response ◽

New Normal ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Impact

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious disease that has rapidly swept across the world, inducing a considerable degree of fear, worry and concern in the population at large and among certain groups in particular, such as older adults, healthcare providers and people with underlying health conditions. Authorities around the world tried to prevent the virus spread by imposing social distancing measures, quarantining citizens and isolating infected persons. Apart from its physical impact, COVID-19 pandemic has brought numerous changes to people’s lives. It changed daily routines, caused worldwide economic crisis, increased unemployment, and placed people under emotional and financial pressures. It affected people psychologically and mentally especially in terms of emotions and cognition. During the acute crisis, everyone to varying degrees experienced fear of infection, somatic concerns, worries about the pandemic’s consequences, loneliness, depression, stress, as well as increased alcohol and drug use. As part of its public health response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has worked with partners to develop a set of new guidelines and messages that can be used to prevent, manage, and support mental and psychological well-being in different vulnerable target groups during the outbreak. Whether people like it or not, the psychological sequela of this pandemic will emerge and persist for months and years to come leading to long-term consequences. New lifestyles and “New Normals” will surely emerge. The main purpose of this review is to summarize the impact of coronavirus pandemic on the psychological and mental health of people around the world especially vulnerable groups. It also presents the relevant intervention actions and recommendations to cope efficiently and effectively with the psychological short-term and long-term outcomes, mental changes, and the “New Normal” during and after COVID-19. Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus, Psychological; Mental; New Normal

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One-On-One: Kathleen Noonan

Patient Safety ◽

10.33940/interview/2019.12.1 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 14-19

Keyword(s):

Patient Safety ◽

Health Policy ◽

Policy Change ◽

Chief Executive Officer ◽

Real World ◽

Healthcare Providers ◽

Chief Executive ◽

Social Needs ◽

World Health ◽

The City

Kathleen Noonan is chief executive officer of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, a nonprofit, multidisciplinary healthcare innovator in Camden, New Jersey. A former corporate lawyer, Noonan previously was co-director of PolicyLab at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, which she co-founded in 2008 to ensure clinical research was connected to and influencing real-world health policy change. Noonan recently spoke with Cait Allen, MPH, director of Engagement at the Patient Safety Authority, about the Camden Coalition’s efforts to improve care for people with complex health and social needs in in the city of Camden, regionally, and across the country.

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