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Chemical and biological events (including infectious disease outbreaks) may affect children disproportionately, and the threat of a chemical or biological attack remains in the United States and worldwide. Although federal programs and funding support a broad range of federal initiatives for public health preparedness and response, funding at the state and local levels has been flat or is decreasing, potentially leaving communities vulnerable. Consequently, pediatricians need to prepare and be ready to care for children in their communities before, during, and after a chemical or biological event, including during long-term recovery. Some medical countermeasures for particular chemical and biological agents have not been adequately studied or approved for children. The American Academy of Pediatrics provides resources and education on disaster preparedness and response, including information on the pediatrician's role in disasters, pediatric medical countermeasures, and mental health after an event as well as individual and family preparedness. This policy statement addresses the steps that clinicians and policy makers can take to protect children and mitigate the effects of a chemical or biological attack., Competing Interests: POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2020 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.)

Children are potential victims of chemical or biological terrorism. In recent years, children have been victims of terrorist acts such as the chemical attacks (2017-2018) in Syria. Consequently, it is necessary to prepare for and respond to the needs of children after a chemical or biological attack. A broad range of public health initiatives have occurred since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. However, in many cases, these initiatives have not ensured the protection of children. Since 2001, public health preparedness has broadened to an all-hazards approach, in which response plans for terrorism are blended with those for unintentional disasters or outbreaks (eg, natural events such as earthquakes or pandemic influenza or man-made catastrophes such as a hazardous-materials spill). In response to new principles and programs that have evolved over the last decade, this technical report supports the accompanying update of the American Academy of Pediatrics 2006 policy statement "Chemical-Biological Terrorism and its Impact on Children." The roles of the pediatrician and public health agencies continue to evolve, and only their coordinated readiness and response efforts will ensure that the medical and mental health needs of children will be met successfully. In this document, we will address chemical and biological incidents. Radiation disasters are addressed separately., Competing Interests: POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST: The authors have indicated they have no potential conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2020 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.)

Background: A variety of plants contain cardiac glycosides. This has resulted in many of them being used to commit suicide. In southeast Asia, Cerebera odollam (pong-pong or suicide tree) is frequently used for suicidal ingestion. Seeds, or kernels, of this plant can cause hyperkalemia, heart block, and death due to the effects of its cardiac glycosides., Case Report: We describe six cases of pong-pong seed ingestion reported to US poison centers. The most common symptoms were vomiting and bradycardia. Three patients survived and three died. All patients who died had heart block, serum digoxin levels > 1.0 ng/mL, and were treated with anti-digoxin immune FAB. Anti-digoxin immune FAB may be ineffective in a large pong-pong seed ingestion. Patients ingesting pong-pong seeds who develop a potassium level > 8.0 meq/L or have a digoxin level > 1.0 ng/mL may be at a higher risk for death. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: The apparent ease of acquiring C. odollam seeds on the Internet makes knowledge of it important, as it can be used as a means to commit suicide. The apparent failure of digoxin immune FAB to treat toxicity from pong-pong is important, as other lifesaving techniques, such as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, might be needed in severely toxic patients., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Context: Over 2 million human exposure calls are reported annually to United States regional poison information centers. All exposures are documented electronically and submitted to the American Association of Poison Control Center's National Poison Data System. This database represents the largest data source available on the epidemiology of pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical poisoning exposures. The accuracy of these data is critical; however, research has demonstrated that inconsistencies and inaccuracies exist., Objective: This study outlines the methods and results of a training program that was developed and implemented to enhance the quality of data collection using acetaminophen exposures as a model., Methods: Eleven poison centers were assigned randomly to receive either passive or interactive education to improve medical record documentation. A task force provided recommendations on educational and training strategies and the development of a quality-measurement scorecard to serve as a data collection tool to assess poison center data quality. Poison centers were recruited to participate in the study. Clinical researchers scored the documentation of each exposure record for accuracy. Results. Two thousand two hundred cases were reviewed and assessed for accuracy of data collection. After training, the overall mean quality scores were higher for both the passive (95.3%; + 1.6% change) and interactive intervention groups (95.3%; + 0.9% change). Data collection accuracy improved modestly for the overall accuracy score and significantly for the substance identification component. There was little difference in accuracy measures between the different training methods., Conclusion: Despite the diversity of poison centers, data accuracy, specifically substance identification data fields, can be improved by developing a standardized, systematic, targeted, and mandatory training process. This process should be considered for training on other important topics, thus enhancing the value of these data in relation to public health safety.

Background: This is the 30(th) Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers' (AAPCC) National Poison Data System (NPDS). As of July 1, 2012, 57 of the nation's poison centers (PCs) uploaded case data automatically to NPDS. The upload interval was 7.58 [6.30, 11.22] (median [25%, 75%]) min, creating a near real-time national exposure and information database and surveillance system., Methodology: We analyzed the case data tabulating specific indices from NPDS. The methodology was similar to that of previous years. Where changes were introduced, the differences are identified. Poison center cases with medical outcomes of death were evaluated by a team of 34 medical and clinical toxicologist reviewers using an ordinal scale of 1-6 to assess the Relative Contribution to Fatality (RCF) of the exposure to the death., Results: In 2012, 3,373,025 closed encounters were logged by NPDS: 2,275,141 human exposures, 66,440 animal exposures, 1,025,547 information calls, 5,679 human confirmed nonexposures, and 218 animal confirmed nonexposures. Total encounters showed a 6.9% decline from 2011, while healthcare facility (HCF) exposure calls increased by 1.2%. All information calls decreased by 14.8% and HCF information calls decreased by 1.7%, medication identification requests (Drug ID) decreased by 22.0%, and human exposures reported to US PCs decreased by 2.5%. Human exposures with less serious outcomes have decreased by 3.7% per year since 2008, while those with more serious outcomes (moderate, major, or death) have increased by 4.6% per year since 2000. The top five substance classes most frequently involved in all human exposures were analgesics (11.6%), cosmetics/personal care products (7.9%), household cleaning substances (7.2%), sedatives/hypnotics/antipsychotics (6.1%), and foreign bodies/toys/miscellaneous (4.1%). Analgesic exposures as a class increased the most rapidly (8,780 calls/year) over the last 12 years. The top five most common exposures in children aged 5 years or less were cosmetics/ personal care products (13.9%), analgesics (9.9%), household cleaning substances (9.7%), foreign bodies/toys/ miscellaneous (7.0%), and topical preparations (6.3%). Drug identification requests comprised 54.4% of all information calls. NPDS documented 2,937 human exposures resulting in death with 2,576 human fatalities judged related (RCF of 1-Undoubtedly responsible, 2-Probably responsible, or 3-Contributory)., Conclusions: These data support the continued value of PC expertise and need for specialized medical toxicology information to manage the more severe exposures, despite a decrease in calls involving less severe exposures. Unintentional and intentional exposures continue to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the US. The near real-time, always current status of NPDS represents a national public health resource to collect and monitor US exposure cases and information calls. The continuing mission of NPDS is to provide a nationwide infrastructure for public health surveillance for all types of exposures, public health event identification, resilience response, and situational awareness tracking. NPDS is a model system for the nation and global public health.

Context: Deaths from overdose of acetaminophen (APAP) combination medications are reported, yet the individual ingredients are not well examined as individual putative causes of death., Objective: To examine the individual contribution of APAP or other ingredient(s) to fatalities resulting from ingestion of APAP combination products reported to poison centers., Materials and Methods: A search in the United States (US) National Poison Data System between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2009 (10 years) was conducted. Only fatal cases determined by American Association of Poison Control Centers Fatality Review team to be caused by ingestion of one or more APAP combination products were included. The fatality abstract narrative for each case was obtained. Each narrative abstract was rated independently by four reviewers and putative cause of death was determined to be APAP, 'other ingredient' or 'unable to determine'. Fleiss' Kappa test was utilized to assess interrater agreement., Results: Three hundred and thirty-seven deaths met inclusion criteria: 204 were due to suicides, 96 were the result of nonmedical use, 3 were from a therapeutic error, 1 resulted from an unsupervised pediatric ingestion, and 33 were due to unknown reason for exposure. The overall putative cause of death was APAP in 60.8%, other ingredients in 29.7%, and unable to determine in 9.5% of fatalities. APAP was responsible for the fatality in 79.2% of deaths resulting from nonmedical use of APAP combination products. Fleiss Kappa was 0.74, indicating substantial interrater agreement., Discussion and Conclusion: The most common putative cause of death in fatal overdoses involving APAP combination products reported to US poison centers is the APAP component.

Context: Poison control centers (PCCs) and emergency departments (EDs) rely upon telephone communication to collaborate. PCCs and EDs each create electronic records for the same patient during the course of collaboration, but those electronic records are not shared., Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the current, telephone based process of PCC-ED communication as the basis for potential process improvement., Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at one PCC and two tertiary care EDs. We developed workflow diagrams to depict clinician descriptions of the current process, descriptions obtained through interviews of key informants. We also analyzed transcripts of phone calls between emergency departments and the poison control center, corresponding to a random sample of 120 PCC cases occurring January 1-December 31, 2011., Results: Collaboration between the ED and PCC takes place during multiple telephone calls, and the process is unsupported by shared documentation. The process occurs in three phases: notification, collaborative care, and ongoing consultation. In the ED, multiple care providers may communicate with the PCC, but only one ED care provider communicates with the poison control center specialist at a time. Handoffs occur for both ED and PCC. Collaborative care planning is common and most cases involve some type of request for information, whether vital signs, laboratory results, or verification that a treatment was administered. We found evidence of inefficiencies and safety vulnerabilities, including the inability of PCC specialists to reach ED care providers, telephone calls routed through multiple ED staff members in an attempt to reach the appropriate care provider, and exchange of clinical information with non-clinical staff. In 55% of cases, the patient was discharged prior to any synchronous telephone communication between the ED care provider and a PCC specialist. Ambiguous communication of information was observed in 22% of cases. In 12% of cases, a PCC specialist was unable to obtain requested information from the ED., Discussion and Conclusion: Inefficiencies and vulnerabilities occur in telephone-based PCC-ED communication. Prudence begs consideration of alternative processes and models of ED-PCC communication and information sharing, including a process that supports collaboration with health information exchange.

The impact of a severe influenza pandemic could be overwhelming to hospital emergency departments, clinics, and medical offices if large numbers of ill people were to simultaneously seek care. While current planning guidance to reduce surge on hospitals and other medical facilities during a pandemic largely focuses on improving the "supply" of medical care services, attention on reducing "demand" for such services is needed by better matching patient needs with alternative types and sites of care. Based on lessons learned during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its partners are currently exploring the acceptability and feasibility of using a coordinated network of nurse triage telephone lines during a pandemic to assess the health status of callers, help callers determine the most appropriate site for care (eg, hospital ED, outpatient center, home), disseminate information, provide clinical advice, and provide access to antiviral medications for ill people, if appropriate. As part of this effort, the integration and coordination of poison control centers, existing nurse advice lines, 2-1-1 information lines, and other hotlines are being investigated.

Objective: To understand which medications, under which circumstances, are responsible for the noted increase in pediatric medication poisonings, resource use, and morbidity., Study Design: Patient records from 2001-2008 were obtained from the National Poison Data System of the American Association of Poison Control Centers for children aged ≤5 years evaluated in a health care facility following exposure to a potentially toxic dose of a pharmaceutical agent. Pharmaceutical agents were classified as over-the-counter or prescription and by functional category. Exposures were classified as child self-ingested the medication or as therapeutic error. For the 8-year period, emergency visits, admissions, significant injuries, and trends in these events were calculated for each substance category., Results: We evaluated 453 559 children for ingestion of a single pharmaceutical product. Child self-exposure was responsible for 95% of visits. Child self-exposure to prescription products dominated the health care impact with 248 023 of the visits (55%), 41 847 admissions (76%), and 18 191 significant injuries (71%). The greatest resource use and morbidity followed self-ingestion of prescription products, particularly opioids, sedative-hypnotics, and cardiovascular agents., Conclusions: Prevention efforts have proved to be inadequate in the face of rising availability of prescription medications, particularly more dangerous medications., (Copyright © 2012 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The 2009 AAPCC NPDS report identified 1,057,632 medication identification requests to poison information centers. This represents 24.7% of all calls to US poison information centers. To reduce the impact of medication identification requests on a poison information center, a regional poison information center developed and implemented an automated medication identification system that utilized an interactive voice response (IVR) system. The objective of this project was to describe how the IVR affected the regional poison information center medication identification request call volume and workload of the staff., Methods: All documented medication identification request inquiries from January 1, 2007 through June 30, 2011 were extracted from the RPIC Visual Dotlab electronic medical record system. Descriptive statistics, presented as means, were used to characterize the monthly call volume inquiries., Results: Over the 18 months (January, 2007 to June, 2008) preceding the implementation of the IVR medication identification request system, a mean of 4,389.6 medication identification requests per month required manual electronic documentation by SPI. In the immediate 12 months (August, 2008 to July, 2009) following the IVR medication identification request system implementation, a mean of 2132.6 inquiries per month (54% reduction) were managed by the IVR. During the 12 month period of July, 2010 through June, 2011, the combined monthly mean of medication identification requests documented by SPI and the IVR decreased to a total of 686.7 compared to the mean pre-implementation monthly total of 4,389.6., Conclusions: The IVR medication identification request system was successful in reducing the number of medication identification requests that required manual electronic documentation by SPI and freed up a substantial amount of time for SPI to perform other critical patient care-related responsibilities. The enhanced technology that was implemented to improve efficiency came with the unintended consequence of discouraging the public from using the RPIC medication identification service as extensively.

Unlabelled: In 2001, a new antivenin was introduced to the United States and became widely available in the snakebite season of 2002. We investigated what impact this may have had on snakebite treatment and medical outcome., Method: The study used a retrospective review of all snakebites to humans reported to the National Poison Center Database System from 2000 to 2007., Results: During the 8 years, there were 37,760 snakebites, with a mean of 4720 bites per year. There was a 27% increase in bites reported to a Poison center for the 8-year period and an overall 13.5% increase in the use of antivenin. The 2 categories primarily responsible for the increased use of antivenin were copperhead and crotaline-unknown. Rattlesnake bites remained the category most frequently treated with antivenin with a mean 52.5% treatment rate and only moderate increase for the 8 years. There was no change in the percentage or number of patients with a major outcome (mean, 3.8%) or death (mean, 0.5%). There was a decrease in patients with a minor outcome and an increase in patients with a moderate outcome., Discussion: The new antivenin is reported to have a reduced potential for adverse reactions. This may have had a role in the decision of which snakebite victims received antivenin., Conclusion: With the introduction of a new antivenin, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of snakebite patients treated with antivenin. This has been most noticeable in snake bite categories that were less frequently treated with antivenin in the past., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Many poison control centers partner with public health agencies to handle weekend and after-hours consultations and emergencies. This event describes the effective use of poison control center capabilities in identifying and limiting an outbreak of foodborne botulism. On September 8, 2006, the poison control center received a call regarding a man aged 77 years admitted to a hospital neurology service with dysarthria, dysphagia, and weakness. The poison control center was contacted regarding a concern for botulism. Further information revealed that the patient's wife and a friend had similar symptoms and had eaten together on the previous night. All three sought treatment at different hospitals. The poison control center successfully located the other two patients and provided information regarding the treatment of botulism. In addition, the poison control center notified the on-call local public health official and the CDC for the release of botulinum antitoxin. Public health officials were informed of our concerns for a foodborne outbreak given the common meal. Their investigation determined that the source of botulism was carrot juice., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

In December 2002, the medical toxicology sub-board, which consists of representatives from emergency medicine, preventive medicine, and pediatrics, released revised core content for medical toxicology, aiming to better meet the academic challenges imposed by the continually expanding knowledge base of medical toxicology. These challenges included the addition of relatively new areas of interest in medical toxicology, including population health, while simultaneously ensuring that a structural framework existed to accommodate future areas of interest. There is no evidence readily available to assess how well the educational curricula of existing fellowship programs are meeting these needs. In an effort to address this, the authors describe a medical toxicology fellowship program that consists of a partnership among the Emory University School of Medicine, the Georgia Poison Control Center, and the CDC, as well as the results of a reorganization of its academic curriculum that occurred in 2006. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first published report describing such a curriculum redesign. Suggestions and potential resources proposed as enhancements for the public health-associated education of medical toxicology fellows are discussed. The authors also seek to initiate a discussion among programs about how to optimally meet the new challenges developed by the medical toxicology sub-board., (Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Federal funding of poison centers (PCs) in the United States was established in 2000 through the Poison Control Center Enhancement and Awareness Act. Unfortunately, the problems with financial stability of PCs that this legislation was intended to improve persist because of continued reliance on fragile local funding sources. In the past few months budget cuts have had an impact on PC activity and threaten the continued existence of a nationwide network of PCs in the United States. This commentary discusses the problems faced by PCs in this changing environment and illustrates the many competing tasks that the PC network performs for the U.S. population. PCs face continuing challenges in coming months and a unified approach at a national level may provide the best opportunity for a solution to this crisis.

Objectives: To explore the effects of population, staffing, location, and funding on cost per human poison exposure call; and organizational characteristics differentiating higher- and lower-cost centers., Methods: Data from 65 poison control centers (2001) were analyzed with linear multiple regression; qualitative data from 10 centers were compared., Results: The most important predictor of expenses per call was 24-hour coverage by Specialists in Poison Information ($15.70 of $40.53/call). Other factors increasing total expenses included northeast location and more health educator FTEs. Qualitative information revealed that more complex organizational forms, including multiple reporting and accountability relationships, characterized higher-cost centers. Surprisingly, having a wider range of reported activities (less specialization) was more common among lower-cost centers., Conclusions: Wide variability in cost per call suggests that inefficiencies exist. While elimination of inefficient poison control centers could reduce costs, the loss of training and collaborative opportunities, and preparedness for public health emergencies and bio-terrorism events, might mitigate against such restructuring.

Since September 11, 2001, concern about potential terrorist attacks has increased in the United States. To reduce morbidity and mortality from outbreaks of illness from the intentional release of chemical agents, we examine data from the Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS). TESS, a national system for timely collection of reports from US poison control centers, can facilitate early recognition of outbreaks of illness from chemical exposures. TESS data can serve as proxy markers for a diagnosis and may provide early alerts to potential outbreaks of covert events. We use 3 categories of information from TESS to detect potential outbreaks, including call volume, clinical effect, and substance-specific data. Analysis of the data identifies aberrations by comparing the observed number of events with a threshold based on historical data. Using TESS, we have identified several events of potential public health significance, including an arsenic poisoning at a local church gathering in Maine, the TOPOFF 2 national preparedness exercise, and contaminated food and water during the northeastern US blackout. Integration of poison control centers into the public health network will enhance the detection and response to emerging chemical threats. Traditionally, emergency physicians and other health care providers have used poison control centers for management information; their reporting to these centers is crucial in poisoning surveillance efforts.

Timely pre-hospital management of snake bite and poisoning cases is hindered by the lack of information about availability of antidotes in hospitals. We aim to build a regional antidote database by collecting real-time antidote stock information from hospital pharmacy inventory systems and make this information available to the emergency medical technicians (EMTs). This would save valuable time, leading to improved outcomes for the patients.

Poison centers save money and lives. Individual patients and their doctors benefit from local poison center availability, as do healthcare facilities and insurance companies. All have a stake in a stable poison control system. It is likely that the greatest contribution of poison control centers to society has yet to be realized. Poison control centers already possess an efficient, realtime surveillance mechanism (TESS). With increased funding, this can be expanded and made more available outside the poison control community. TESS can be used to detect chemical releases or attacks and environmental and infectious disease outbreaks as they occur - long before individual healthcare providers could connect the dots. In conclusion, while the value of a nationwide poison control system to society is well recognized, its future is not as clear. Establishing a stable system to monitor and treat poisonings in the US will take political will at the local, state, and federal levels to ensure full funding for years to come.

The Committee forged a vision for a national poison prevention and control system that broadly integrates the current network of poison control centers with state and local public health departments responsible for monitoring populations. Implementing the Committee's recommendations, however, will require leadership from the Congress and the federal agencies to whom the report is addressed: HRSA and CDC. The next steps include amendments to existing legislation to establish the national system and to secure federal funding to assure stability of the system and systematic oversight by the federal agencies to hold all parties accountable for the performance of the system.

After the World War II, poison centres (PC) were created with the goal of improving the care of poisoned patients and prevention. Four decades later, they are still recognised for their traditional activities, but they are faced to new challenges. The development of numerous toxicological databases on CDROM or on the Internet has changed the needs of health professionals to call a PC, reducing the number of enquiries but increasing the need of expertise. The general concern about the cost-effective utilisation of the scarce health care resources will enhance the role of PCs in the reduction of unnecessary referral to emergency departments. Health authorities require the implementation of continuous surveillance system of chemical-related events and a real-time alerting procedure concerning terrorism attacks, child health and other serious events. But, to be able to achieve these new roles, PCs need to change the way they collect, validate, and analyse the information from cases and they must develop real-time capacity of detecting an unusual event. It has been recognised that PCs were in a unique position to monitor patterns, incidence and severity of exposures and to detect new trends. They could contribute to the accuracy of risk assessment documentation and help to identify the priority list of chemicals that need to be assessed or reassessed. But, in the perspective of using PCs' data for global risk assessment and public health, the main challenge is the development of international harmonization of human poisoning data collection to allow their comparability. In the future, PCs will continue to have a leading role to play in the health protection of the population. Therefore, of particular importance is their mobilisation to stabilise the traditional activities, to initiate new activities, to acquire new skills in toxicology, methodology and quality assurance, to recruit and to train new staff and to find adequate funding to sustain and expand their operations.

The Pittsburgh Poison Center (PPC), a department of Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, was established in 1971 to provide emergency poison information to the residents of western Pennsylvania, especially the children. The PPC provides comprehensive poison information center services to the lay public and to medical professionals, poison prevention education, professional education and specialized services to the business and industry sector and governmental agencies.

Poisonings and toxic exposures worldwide account for tremendous suffering and unnecessary deaths. Poison control centers are well positioned to provide specialized services to both the public and health professionals alike so as to ease this public health burden. Future challenges for poison control centers include: the mobilization of adequate financial and infrastructural resources to initiate, stabilize and/or expand their services, provision of training for the next cadre of toxicologists; pursuit of needed research in toxicology; and the collection, analysis, and harmonization of data pertaining to their population.

Nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) terrorism countermeasures are a major priority with municipalities, healthcare providers, and the federal government. Significant resources are being invested to enhance civilian domestic preparedness by conducting education at every response level in anticipation of a NBC terroristic incident. The key to a successful response, in addition to education, is integration of efforts as well as thorough communication and understanding the role that each agency would play in an actual or impending NBC incident. In anticipation of a NBC event, a regional counter-terrorism task force was established to identify resources, establish responsibilities and coordinate the response to NBC terrorism. Members of the task force included first responders, hazmat, law enforcement (local, regional, national), government officials, the health department, and the regional poison information center. Response protocols were developed and education was conducted, culminating in all members of the response task force becoming certified NBC instructors. The poison center participated actively in 3 incidents of suspected biologic and chemical terrorism: an alleged anthrax-contaminated letter sent to a women's health clinic; a possible sarin gas release in a high school: and a potential anthrax/ebola contamination incident at an international airport. All incidents were determined hoaxes. The regional response plan establishes the poison information center as a common repository for all cases in a biological or chemical incident. The poison center is one of several critical components of a regional counterterrorism response force. It can conduct active and passive toxicosurveillance and identify sentinel events. To be responsive, the poison center staff must be knowledgeable about biological and chemical agents. The development of basic protocols and a standardized staff education program is essential. The use of the RaPiD-T (R-recognition, P-protection, D-detection, T-triage/treatment) course can provide basic staff education for responding to this important but rare consultation to the poison center.

Regional poison control centers (PCCs) were surveyed nationally to assess their policies and practices in handling work-related exposures. A 24-item survey was mailed to the executive directors of 44 American Association of Poison Control Centers' certified PCCs nationwide. The survey also requested permission to call the PCC to conduct a blinded role-playing exercise of a case of work-related trichloroethane exposure. Responses on the management questionnaire were compared with the actual responses provided by information specialists in the role-playing exercise. Seventy-five percent of PCCs completed the survey; 43% completed the telephone role-playing exercise. Survey respondents generally overestimated what they thought was routinely done to assess work-related calls, compared with what actually occurred at the time of the work-related call in the role-playing exercise. For example, 32% indicated that their PCC asked about the activities of nearby workers, but none of the PCC staff actually did so. Eighty-nine percent of the PCC executive directors surveyed thought that their staff routinely advised callers to notify their employer about work-related exposure concerns, but this occurred in only 11% of the calls. We concluded that PCCs' responses to work-related calls are inadequate. Given the public health impact of work-related calls, PCCs should develop, implement, and monitor written protocols to better address the public health issues of workplace poisonings.

The Rocky Mountain Poison Center is a model system for regionalization. Minimal cost is achieved by concentrating expensive equipment and information materials in the main center. Access to information is rapid because each subregional center has a POISINDEX and thus the capacity to provide standardized initial therapy as soon as contact is made. Full integration of professional activities from training to education is accomplished within the framework of Emergency Medical Services. Public education is uniform throughout the region so that medical interaction is consistent and the public receives maximum reinforcement. Funding is found through many sources and includes a cost-sharing program in which 18 Colorado hospitals participate. Institutions with similar regionalized programs, integrated with Emergency Medical Services and drug consultation, will provide cost effective programs well-tailored to the unique characteristics of each region.

The advantages and disadvantages of combining poison control and drug information centers are discussed. A major advantage of combining programs is a reduction in the overall cost of operation. Combined programs can share personnel, information resources, and sometimes space and utility charges. Combining programs can give the drug information service easier access to and justification for improved communication equipment and data-management equipment, and if it has an all-pharmacist staff, it can provide around-the-clock services. Combining programs can give the poison control service speedy access to the literature searching and evaluation skills of the drug-information specialist. One disadvantage, however, of a single staff providing both services, is that the staff may never achieve maximum skills in either discipline. Also, "jurisdictional" disputes can arise if there are two separate staffs. The more emergent nature of poison information requests may impair the efficiency of the drug-information component. The 24-hour expectation of drug information services can also place pressure on the poison information providers. The advantages of combining poison control and drug information services outweigh the disadvantages.