Poison Control Center Resources for Professionals

Poison Control Center Resources for Professionals

A dedicated resource

There are many ways we can support you in your role as a professional in the healthcare field.

Our highly-trained Specialists in Poison Information (SPIs) can:

  • Provide practical, patient-specific poison information
  • Assist in connecting clinicians to other useful agencies
  • Perform outpatient follow-ups after poisoning events
  • Potentially reduce medicolegal risk

The PCC can provide medical toxicology consultations.

  • The center utilizes a dedicated network of medical toxicology consultants who make themselves available for consultation on cases requiring complex medical management input.
  • These medical toxicologists come from several local academic institutions.

In addition to this, the PCC regularly serves as a toxicological training site for pharmacy students, medical residents and fellows.

I am a pediatrician, and I think the Poison Control Center is an essential resource! When I get calls about ingestion, I refer directly to the Poison Control Center.

When to call the PCC

Emergencies

  • Call our 24-hour, toll-free, multilingual emergency hotline at 1-800-222-1222. Our toxicology experts are available to help with emergencies at any time.
  • All calls to the PCC are answered by specially trained, certified nurses and pharmacists.

Non-emergent toxicology questions

  • Please call us during regular weekday business hours (9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday).
  • Reserving your non-emergent questions for regular business hours will help us most effectively field all calls and respond to your needs.

Find more information about what we need to know when someone calls with a potential poisoning exposure.

Clinical care guidelines and referral information

CHOP Emergency Medicine Clinical Pathways

CHOP has developed a library of clinical pathways for use in medical emergencies. These task-oriented care plans detail essential steps in the care of patients with specific clinical problems and describe their expected clinical course.

Evaluation and treatment guidance for specific poisoning events

Healthcare professionals can review/download the following guidance for poisoning events:

Quick Tox Treatment Tips

Poisoning / Envenomation Syndromes

Therapies

 

Protecting patient privacy

Poison control centers are recognized public health entities. Sharing information with poison control centers is fully HIPAA compliant. We are happy to provide additional details and documentation if needed.

Public health activity

As a member of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), the Poison Control Center at CHOP functions as a public health authority. We seek partnerships with other public health entities and work to identify and resolve poison-related public health concerns.

Order Poison Control Center materials

Use this form to order medicine dispensers with slow-flow adapters, our video about poison prevention, and other teaching aids.

Additional informational resources

Find a variety of additional resources focused on toxicology, poison control, environmental health and more, including professional associations and adverse event reporting systems. In 2015 alone, the Poison Control Center distributed more than 27,000 educational materials to homes, schools, daycare centers, doctors' offices, health departments, hospitals and non-medical organizations.

 

Clinicians who desire to suggest editing or content changes to the professional education materials of The Poison Control Center are encouraged to send comments to poisoncontroladmin@email.chop.edu.