The National Poison Center in Norway: user satisfaction and a health economic evaluation.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to find out how satisfied users are with the National Poison Center of Norway and to make a health economic evaluation of the service.
Method: The material consisted of telephone interviews with 310 users of the service from the general public and 665 completed questionnaires from doctors and nurses.
Results: Most respondents were satisfied with the information and had followed the advice. They also felt safer after making a phone call. It was found that the running costs of the Poison Center are approximately the same as the estimated additional costs the health care system would incur if the service did not exist.
Conclusions: Both users and health care personnel are highly satisfied with the Poison Center hotline. Even though the Norwegian health system does not necessarily save money by providing the service, the safety it provides cannot be measured in economic terms.