Poison Center and Public Health Collaborations Community of Practice

About

The Poison Center and Public Health Collaborations Community of Practice (PCPH CoP) was created in 2010 by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), America’s Poison Centers, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to facilitate better collaboration between federal, state, and local public health agencies and poison centers.

Data collected by the nation’s poison centers are an important tool for all-hazards exposure and illness surveillance. Close collaboration and open communication among public health partners and poison centers are necessary to leverage poison center data for public health surveillance.

PCPH CoP Mission:

To facilitate better collaboration between federal, state, and local health agencies and poison centers through sharing ideas and best practices to enhance disease surveillance.

The primary goals of the PCPH CoP are the following:

Build knowledge on public health and toxicology topics.
Develop and formulate best practices for poison center and public health collaboration.

Activities

Poison Center and Public Health Collaborations Community of Practice

Webinars

The PCPH CoP hosts a quarterly webinar series featuring various topics and activities from around the country. Past webinar topics include cannabinoid-associated coagulopathy; lead surveillance; wildfires, climate change, and poison control; harmful algal blooms; pesticide poisonings; and others.

Newsletters

CDC develops and releases a newsletter for the PCPH CoP several times a year, featuring select topics and resources relevant to members. Newsletters are available to view online.

Special Projects

Assessment of the Collaboration between Health Departments and Poison Centers

In 2012, the PCPH CoP launched a special project to better characterize current collaboration and barriers to collaboration between poison centers and state and local health departments. The results of this evaluation illustrated the wide spectrum of collaboration and partnerships that exist between poison centers and health departments across the country. Read more in the report [PDF – 1,679 KB].

Join the PCPH CoP

PCPH CoP membership consists of more than 250 public health and poison control professionals from across the country. Members of the PCPH CoP include

Poison center professionals,
Public health professionals at state, tribal, local, and territorial health departments,
First responders,
Emergency managers, and
Medical professionals.

To become a member, contact PCPHCoP@cdc.gov.

Additional Resources

Data collected by the nation’s poison centers (PCs) is an important tool for all-hazards exposure and illness surveillance. Close collaboration and open communication among local, state, and federal public health partners and PCs is necessary to leverage PC data for public health surveillance.

In 2010, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, (CSTE), American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Health Studies spearheaded the creation of the Poison Center & Public Health Collaboration CoP.

Mission: To bolster collaboration between federal, state, and local health agencies and departments and poison centers through sharing best practices and facilitating networking between members

Successes:

Recruited more than 250 public health and PC professionals as active members of the CoP
Established a CoP steering committee to set goals and direction of CoP
Conducted more than 25 national webinars on state and national public health uses of PC data (see select examples in table of select previous webinars)
Led eight roundtable discussions at national meetings to discuss the importance, current state, and obstacles between PC and health department (HD) collaboration
Conducted special projects focused on supporting partnerships between HDs and PCs (example below)

CoP Special Project:

In 2012, the steering committee developed questions to better characterize current collaboration and barriers to collaboration between PCs and state and local HDs. Questions were then tailored towards either PC managing directors or state and local epidemiologists and administered as an online survey. HD results were collected and analyzed by CSTE staff whereas PC results were analyzed by CDC staff. CDC also performed a separate analysis looking at results linked by jurisdiction (I.e., linking the PC(s) that serve a specific state).The results of this evaluation (presented in the two following reports) illustrate the wide spectrum of collaboration and partnerships that exist between PCs and DOHs across the country. Two major findings of this evaluation are:

PC/DOH partnerships with low collaborative capacity might benefit from improving communication between PCs and DOHS
PC/DOH partnerships with high collaborative capacity may benefit from addressing data transmission, management, and analysis issues.

Newsletters

Newsletters
Year	Season	Topic
2020	Winter (anticipated)	Synthetic Cannabinoids
2019	Spring	Disaster Response [PDF – 496 KB]
2018	Summer	Facts about Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms for Poison Center Professionals [PDF – 113 KB]
2016	Fall	Radiation Emergency Training [PDF – 2 MB]
	Summer	Opioids [PDF – 830 KB]
	Spring	National Poison Prevention Week
	Winter	Introduction to the Poison Center Public Health Community of Practice

Webinars

Scheduled Webinars
Year	Month	Title	Presenter(s)
2020	January	Identifying Mushroom Poisonings: Developing Clinical Testing	Dr. Candace Bever; U.S. Department of Agriculture Elizabeth Hamlin; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2019	July	Applying the poison center model to an occupational and patient safety support line	Jon Colvin; RN, BSN, CSPI, CCRP Managing Director Cincinnati Drug and Poison Information Center
	June	Utilizing Infectious Disease Surveillance Methods in Opioid Epidemic	Carson Telford, MPH Epidemiologist Utah Department of Health Disease Response, Evaluation, Analysis, and Monitoring (DREAM) Wei Beadles, MPH Epidemiologist, Syndromic Surveillance Coordinator Utah Department of Health Disease Response, Evaluation, Analysis, and Monitoring (DREAM)
	March	An Overview of CDC’s Enhanced State Opioid Overdose Surveillance (ESOOS) Program	Mbabazi Kariisa, PhD Health Scientist National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Douglas Roehler, PhD, MPH Health Scientist National Center for Injury Prevention and Control Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
	January	Bad Stickers: Pediatric Transdermal Drug Delivery Systems Exposures Reported to the NPDS	Stephen Thornton, MD Medical Director University of Kansas Health System Poison Control Center
2018
	December	Using Drug Overdose Syndromic Surveillance Data to Impact Local Public Health Action	Mandy Billman, MPH Overdose Surveillance Educator Epidemiologist Indiana State Department of Health Kayley Dotson, MPH Overdose Surveillance Systems Epidemiologist Indiana State Department of Health
	September	Epidemiology of Suspected Pesticide Poisoning in Livestock	Judy Akkina, MPH, PhD Epidemiologist Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service Veterinary Services Center for Epidemiology and Animal Health
	August	Opioid Misuse in Missouri: Analyzing Emergency Department Use in Urban/Rural Areas	Andrew Hunter Bureau Chief Bureau of Health Care Analysis & Data Dissemination Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services Evan Mobley Research Analyst Bureau of Health Care Analysis & Data Dissemination Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services
	July	Public Health Surveillance in a Large Evacuation Shelter Post Hurricane Harvey	Leann Liu, MD MS Deputy Surveillance Epidemiology Program Manager Office of Science, Surveillance, and Technology – Harris County Public Health (TX)
	June	Developing Guidance Documents to Facilitate Poison Center and State Health Department Collaboration (CSTE 2018)	Jay L. Schauben, PharmD, DABAT, FAACT Director Florida/USVI Poison Information Center – Jacksonville Nena Bowman, PharmD, DABAT Managing Director Tennessee Poison Center Royal Law, PhD., MPH Senior Service Fellow Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Emily Glidden, MPH ORISE Fellow Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
	April	Harmful Algal Blooms: a public health approach	Lorraine C. Backer, PhD, MPH Research Epidemiologist National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Lesley V. D’Anglada, DrPH, MEH Senior Microbiologist Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water Elizabeth D. Hilborn, DVM, MPH, Dipl. ACVPM Epidemiologist US EPA, Environmental Public Health Division Elizabeth Hamelin, M.S. Research chemist National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Virginia Roberts, BS, MSPH Epidemiologist National Center for Emerging Zoonotic Infectious Disease, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Andrew Reich, MS, MSPH, RRT Scientific Advisor Bureau of Environmental Health, Florida Department of Health
	February	West Virginia Poison Center: Collaboration with Public Health to Monitor Lay Public Naloxone Utilization	Elizabeth J. Scharman, Pharm.D., DABAT, BCPS, FAACT Director, West Virginia Poison Center Professor, West Virginia University School of Pharmacy
2017	December	Georgia… We have a problem: The Anatomy of an Opioid Outbreak [ MP4 – 60 MB]	Gaylord Lopez, PharmD, DABAT Director Georgia Poison Center Stephanie Hon, PharmD, DABAT Assistant Director Georgia Poison Center Laura Edison, DVM, MPH Epidemiology Field Officer Geogria Department of Health Nelly Miles, BA Director Georgia Bureau of Investigation Office of Public Affairs
	November	Oregon Poison Center and Oregon Public Health Division monitoring for the 2017 Solar Eclipse	Sandy Giffin, RN, MS Director Oregon Poison Center Laurel Boyd, MPH ESSENCE Epidemiologist Oregon Public Health Division
	September	Methanol Ingestions: Public Health and Poison Center Response – Tennessee	Mary-Margaret A. Fill, M.D. Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer Tennessee Department of Health Communicable and Environmental Diseases and Emergency Preparedness Donna Seger, MD Executive Director and Medical Director of Tennessee Poison Control, Medical Toxicology

Select Previous Webinars

Previous Webinars
Date	Title	Presenter(s)
2017	Opioid Surveillance Webinar Series #3 Part 1: Syndromic Surveillance Case Definition for Monitoring Opioid Related ED visits in the Colorado North Central Region (CO-NCR), State of Nebraska, and Marion County, Indiana	Yushiuan Chen, MS Syndromic Surveillance Epidemiologist Tri-County Health Department
	Challenges and Implications of Postmarketing Surveillance of Prescription Opioids	Richard Dart, MD, PhD Director Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center Executive Director ADARS System Professor University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
	Rapid surveillance of overdose morbidity – Developing case definitions, building queries, and analyzing results	R. Matthew Gladden, PhD Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention Center for Disease Control and Prevention Alana Vivolo-Kantor, PhD, MPH Division of Unintentional Injury Prevention Center for Disease Control and Prevention
2016	Collaborative investigation of a clenbuterol-adulterated heroin outbreak in Virginia	Kirk Cumpston, DO, FACEP, FACMT, FAACT Medical Director of the Virginia Poison Center Brigette Gleason, MD, MPH CDC EIS Officer – Virginia Department of Health Christopher Holstege, MD Professor Department of Emergency Medicine & Pediatrics, University of Virginia, School of Medicine Priyanka Vakkalanka, ScM Epidemiologist Blue Ridge Poison Center, Division of Medical Toxicology
	Adulterated medications sold on the street as prescriptions, The Fake Xanax Bars in San Francisco	Annie Arens, MD Medical Toxicology Fellow California Poison Control System, San Francisco Division Kathy Vo, MD Medical Toxicology Fellow California Poison Control System, San Francisco Division
	Development of the Arkansas PCC Mission Ready Package to Support Continuity of Operations and Surge Utilizing the Emergency Management Assistance Compact	Dr. Howell Foster Arkansas Poison Control CenterAaron Adams Arkansas Department of HealthCarol Walton Arkansas Department of Emergency Management
2015	Massachusetts poisonings and department of public health collaborations	Rebecca Bruccoleri, MD Regional Center for Poison Control serving Massachusetts and Rhode Island MyDzung Chu, MSPH Massachusetts Dept. of Public Health
2014	The High Cost of Bath Salts: A Study of the Health Care Burden of Illicit Synthetic Drug Use in Duluth, Minnesota	Sarah Dugan Public Health Associate Minnesota Dept. of Health
2013	Linking Poison Center Call Data to Hospital Discharge Data: Understanding proxy variables to better document work related poisonings	Karla Armenti, PhD New Hampshire Occupational Health Surveillance Program
	Poison Centers: Public Health’s Information & Communication Partner	Greg Bogdan Administrative Director Rocky Mountain Poison and Drug Center
	Use of data from poison centers for hazardous exposure and illness surveillance (ISDS webinar)	Jay L. Schauben, PharmD, DABAT, FAACT Director Florida/USVI Poison Information Center – Jacksonville Prakash Mulay, MBBS, MPH Florida Dept. of Health
2012	Michigan’s public health collaborations to prevent poisonings	Martha Stanbury Section Manager Environmental Health Section Michigan Dept. of Community Health Susan Smolinske Director Michigan Poison Center
2012	Increasing the use of Poison Centers by the Federal and State Regional Response Team (RRT) in Region 6 to provide medical and public health support	Patrick Young ATSDR Region 6 Division of Community Health Investigation
2011	Incorporation of Real Time Poison Center Data to Enhance Surveillance – The Florida Department of Health ESSENCE-PIC Project	Jay L. Schauben, PharmD, DABAT, FAACT Director Florida/USVI Poison Information Center – Jacksonville Prakash Mulay, MBBS, MPH Florida Dept. of Health
	Wisconsin’s use of the NPDS web service for surveillance	David Gummin, MD, FACEP, FAACT, FACMT Wisconsin Poison Center Marni Y.V. Bekkedal, PhD Wisconsin Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health
	Poison Center and Public Health Collaboration in Oregon	Melissa Powell, MPH June Bancroft, MPH Oregon Department of Health Services
2010	Use of the National Poison Data System for chemical surveillance	Colleen Martin, MPH Health Studies Branch Center for Disease Control and Prevention
2010	Camphor-Related Seizures – A Bronx Tale: One Case Study of NYC’s PCC Surveillance	Katie Wheeler, MPH New York City Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene