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2 Toward a Poison Prevention and Control System
Pages 34-40

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From page 34...
... . poison prevention and control services in the United States," emphasizing "the coordination of poison control centers with other public health, emergency medical and other services." The Committee views its recommendation to create a Poison Prevention and Control System as central to addressing its charge.
From page 35...
... Thus, poison control centers serve a vital public health function, accentuated by the public concerns about exposure to biological and chemical agents of terrorism. In the future, however, poison control centers must be more stable financially, population based, and better integrated and coordinated with other stakeholders involved in the protection of the public from hazardous substances.
From page 36...
... Effective and efficient examples of each type of arrangement currently exist. In cases in which a center contracts from a distance, there must be strong links to state and local public health agencies concerned with poisoning and poisoning prevention.
From page 37...
... Briefly, the core functions of a regional poison control center will include: · Manage telephone-based poison exposure and information calls; · Prepare for and respond to all-hazards emergency needs (including biological or chemical terrorism or other mass exposure events) in cooperation with other organizations at local and state levels; · Capture, analyze, and report exposure data; · Train poison control center staff, including specialists in poison information and poison information providers; · Carry out continuous quality improvement;
From page 38...
... To accomplish these broader goals, the Committee believes that some current poison control center functions will be better carried out by federal, state, or local public health agencies. In this set of activities we include: · Primary prevention efforts through public education; · Consumer protection through continuous monitoring of poison exposures and translation into regulation of hazardous products; · Rapid analysis of exposure data (toxicosurveillance)
From page 39...
... Such a commitment must be built into the research mandates of the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. SUMMARY In summary, the proposed Poison Prevention and Control System will be different from what currently exists in several key areas: · The component agencies, including the poison control centers, will work cooperatively to reduce the burden of poisoning; · The federal legislative base will provide a national mandate and federal core funding; · Poison exposure data will be publicly available in real time for agency decision making and for merging with other data sources;
From page 40...
... 40 FORGING A POISON PREVENTION AND CONTROL SYSTEM · Poison prevention and control will be integrated into the broader injury prevention and public health systems; · The performance of the system will be held accountable; and · Primary prevention through public education and hazardous substance regulation will be strengthened.


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