Kentucky Regional Poison Center
Introduction
Poison Control Centers have been called one of the most successful and important public health programs in the United States, second only to the childhood immunization program in reducing illness and injury to the public. The Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center of Kosair Children’s Hospital is proud to be part of this tradition.
The mission of the Poison Control Center is to reduce and, where possible, eliminate the morbidity and mortality from poison exposures in Kentucky. The Poison Control Center fulfills this mission using a dual strategy. For immediate emergencies, the Poison Control Center provides a toll-free telephone hotline, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for poison exposures or poison information. This hot-line is available to both the lay public as well as health professionals for expert consultation.The long-term strategy of the Poison Control Center is to attempt to prevent poisonings from occurring with the use of various educational programs directed to the general public. A second group of educational programs are provided for area health professionals. The Poison Control Center believes poison prevention education is paramount in ultimately reducing the cost and injury associated with unintentional poisonings.
Who uses the Poison Control Center?
People and professionals from all walks of life, from police to mothers and fathers of small children to physicians and nurses to pharmacists to workers on their job site to school teachers to grandparents to babysitters and day care centers to news reporters. In 2002, the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center of Kosair Children’s Hospital handled more than 71,000 calls, with calls coming in from every county in the state.
What kind of questions come into the Poison Control Center?
Just about every kind of question has been asked over the years. The Poison Control Center’s role is to know what will happen if ANYTHING comes in contact with a human: any drug, any gas, any plant or insect or snake, any chemical, any cleaning product or automobile product, any toy, any pesticide, any cosmetic or personal care product, any commercial product from 20 or 30 years ago, any product that just came on the market today. The Poison Control Center needs to know what will happen if it gets in the eye, if it is swallowed, if it is inhaled or if it gets on the skin. And usually they need to know it right away. The Poison Control Center accomplishes this task with a dedicated staff of nurses and physicians specially trained in clinical toxicology. The staff is aided by a number of computer programs, numerous texts and technical journals. This back-up information is invaluable. But most important is the expertise of the staff itself. Many of our nurses and physicians have handled more than 20,000 poisonings cases each. Some of our senior staff have handled more than 50,000 cases each. When you call the Poison Control Center you don’t get an operator, you get a highly trained and experienced expert; immediately, 24 hours a day. This service is available to everyone in the Commonwealth of Kentucky within reach of a telephone and it is FREE.
How much does it cost to maintain the Poison Control Center?
Actually, it is remarkably cost efficient. The Poison Control Center saves somewhere between $5 and $10 for every dollar spent. These savings come from reduced trips to the emergency room, reduced injuries and reduced time lost from work (both moms and dads of small children taking off from work as well as adult workers themselves). It is estimated that the Poison Control Center saves between $4 million and $8 million each year from reduced emergency room visits alone. This is five to 10 times the center’s entire annual budget. We are able to take care of the entire state of Kentucky for less than it takes to run a single, busy fast food restaurant.
Effectiveness of the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center
• Poison Control Centers save $7.00 in health care expenditures for every $1.00 invested and rank second only to childhood immunization programs in their ability to save health care dollars. (Department of Health and Human Service study)
• Safety intervention programs and their cost savings per dollar spent
1. Childhood Immunizations — $7.40
2. Poison Information Centers — $7.00
3. Bicycle Helmet Program — $2.00
4. Child Safety Seat Program — $2.00
5. Smoke Detector Program — $1.50
6. Regional Trauma Program — $1.15
• The cost per call to the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center in 2002 is $15.50
• Average cost for a call to a poison center in the U.S. (1997) was $31.28.
• The Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center provides high quality poison center services at 50% below the national average cost per call.
Confidentiality
All calls to the Poison Control Center are considered confidential. Strict patient confidentiality and medical record confidentiality is maintained. For further information concerning confidentiality please contact the administrative office of the poison center.
Is there any Charge when calling the Poison Control Center?
There is NO cost to you when you call the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center. We recomend you call whenever you have questions. You may be able to save a trip to the emergency room.
What is done with the information I give to the Poison Control Center?
A medical record is made on all calls. The nurses and physicians at the poison center keep medical records the same as a hospital or your doctor’s office. Along with the patient information collected, all treatment recomendations, symptoms and medical outcome are recorded. Additional information is charted as the poison center follows the case until symptoms have resolved. All information is confidential.
How often will the Poison Control Center call me?
The number of times the Kentucky Regional Poison Control Center staff checks back with a patient depends on both the type of exposure and the symptoms experienced. If you are not at home when the poison center calls, the staff may leave a message to return a call to us.
If an exposure has not occured and you are inquiring about poison prevention, no return call will be made.
What kind of questions will be asked by the Poison Control Center?
The Poison Control Center staff will ask a number of questions to help determine if a poisoning danger exists, including some of the following:
1. Patient name – this is done so the Center call follow up on each patient and to create a medical record of the case.
2. Phone number of the caller – this is done to allow the Center to follow up by telephone on the case.
3. Age and weight (in children) – many substances and poisons affect children differently thatn adults. It is vital to know this information to help evaluate the case.
4. What is the name of the substance involved in the exposure – This is important for the staff, to help make a judgement if a danger exxists.
5. How much of the substance in invloved or missing? – this gives the Center staff an idea of the “dose” involved.
6. Have any symptoms occured yet?