Raising Poison Control Centers' Visibility through Multi-Disciplinary Interactions

Background: Many people, including healthcare providers, are not familiar with the services, clinical expertise, and surveillance capabilities of poison centers. The management of the poisoned patient requires input from various healthcare professionals. To foster optimum treatment of the poisoned patient, collaboration among health care disciplines including emergency medical technicians (EMT), emergency department nurses and physicians, and poison center staff is required. For this reason, our poison center has established an educational program for healthcare providers to raise awareness of our availability, clinical expertise, and epidemiologic surveillance studies related to exposures. Methods: Working in conjunction with our university's colleges of nursing, pharmacy, medicine, and dentistry, our center established on-site clinical toxicology lectures, site visits, and practicum rotations. Training programs include center orientation, listening to live and pre-recorded poison calls, case review, and comprehensive discussions related to these cases. Our successes have also led us to include EMT students in our program. Results: Our multi-disciplinary training program has enhanced post graduate communication and collaboration. We note that face-to-face interactions foster a better understanding and appreciation of the various disciplines involved in the care of the patient These activities raise the awareness of the poison center's role, diverse functions, and clinical expertise related to the poisoned patient Discussion: Our multi-disciplinary training program has enhanced post graduate communication and collaboration. We note that face-to-face interactions foster a better understanding and appreciation of the various disciplines involved in the care of the patient. These activities raise the awareness of the poison center's role, diverse functions, and clinical expertise related to the poisoned patient Conclusion: A multi-disciplinary approach to treatment of the poisoned patient helps ensure optimal patient outcome. Poison centers can raise their visibility, enhance communication, and foster better patient care through outreach programs directed towards a variety of health-care students and providers.