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Maryland Poison Center Celebrates 40 years of Lifesaving Service with Balassone Lecture |
 At the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, the
Maryland Poison Center (MPC) is marking its 40-year anniversary by
releasing some eye-popping statistics on its operation through the
years, such as responding to 2,024,639 calls on its dedicated phone
lines.
More than 1.2 million of the calls concerned people who were exposed to
toxins, said Bruce Anderson, PharmD,
DABAT, director of operations for the MPC and an associate
professor of pharmacy practice and science, in delivering the School's
annual Francis S. Balassone Memorial Lecture.
At the Poison Center, certified toxicology specialists routinely
respond to calls for help from professionals, such as first responders,
emergency room personnel, hazardous materials experts, and others,
Anderson said.
"Also, we have received more than 870,000 calls from people's homes. If
they did not call us, they would call 911, a doctor, or go to the
hospital. Poisoning cases managed in the emergency room average a cost
savings of between $500 to $1,000 each. That means we've saved people a
combined total of between $439 million and $878 million," Anderson
said.
In his Oct. 31 lecture, "Celebrating 40 Years of Change in Poison
Center Practice," Anderson recalled how the center was a key
information source during various infamous toxic incidences, including
a nationwide recall of Tylenol products in 1982 after seven people died
when someone laced some of the medicine capsules with potassium
cyanide, the 2001 when a bioterrorist mailed letters of deadly anthrax
powder, and in the 1970s when widespread poisonings resulted from
people siphoning gasoline during gas rationing.
"Besides the success the Maryland Poison Center has had, what is really
remarkable is that the individuals involved in the Maryland Poison
Center helped define what a poison center should be," said Anderson.
'We added health education and outreach to the mission of the Poison
Center. There were no guidelines for that back in 1972. No professional
organization was saying 'Thou shall or shall not.' We just did it
because it was the right thing to do."
At the beginning, in 1972, the Maryland
Poison Center received 5,600 calls a year. Anderson said in 2011,
that number had swelled to more than 62,000. "Today, there are poison
specialists sitting in front of a series of computer screens. All cases
are documented in near real time. And we submit our data, as do all 57
poison centers in the country, to a national data collection system
that looks for trends and public health outbreaks."
The MPC trains pharmacists, paramedics, physicians, and other health
care workers to know and respond to toxic situations. "We have helped
define what it means to be a certified poison center and several of our
past fellows are in leadership positions now at poison centers around
the country," Anderson said. "On the horizon, we are looking to provide
the information we gather to state and local health departments in near
real time. We are setting parameters for dates, locations, substance
exposures, and more.
Anderson pointed out that he was delivering his lecture on the heels of
a new report on the value of such poison center services. The Lewin
Group, an independent research firm, reported thatý poison centers
save more than $1.8 billion per year in medical costs and lost
productivity, or a savings of $13.39 for every $1 spent on poison
center services. The "Final Report on the Value of the Poison Center
System," Lewin Group, Inc., September 2012, determined that poison
centers save $752.9 million per year due to avoided medical utilization
by keeping the majority of patients at home instead of unnecessarily
using emergency medical services and hospitals, $441.1 million per year
due to a reduction in hospital length of stay of an average of 3.2 days
when a poison center is consulted, $23.9 million per year due to
educational outreach that helps to prevent poisonings and improve
medical response, and $603 million per year due to reduced work-loss
days due to unnecessary medical encounters.
Anderson said that rumored state and federal budget cuts could make it
difficult for poison centers to continue to provide the same lifesaving
services.
The Maryland Pharmacists Association and the School's Alumni
Association established the annual Balassone lecture in 1976 in memory
of Francis Balassone, an alumnus of the Class of 1940, and a faculty
member at the School. Balassone was executive secretary of the Maryland
Board of Pharmacy and was instrumental in establishing the first
School-based pharmacy student externship program in the nation.
Anderson previewed his Balassone lecture presentation on Oct. 21, as
the School of Pharmacy hosted a celebratory brunch in honor of the
Poison Centerýs 40th anniversary. The brunch was attended by faculty
and staff from the School, as well as former Poison Center employees,
students, and professional colleagues and collaborators, including
Joshua Sharfstein, MD, secretary of the Maryland Department of Health
and Mental Hygiene, and David Fowler, MD, the state's chief medical
examiner.
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| Posting Date: 11/09/2012 |
| Contact Name: Steve Berberich |
| Contact Phone: 410-706-0023 |
| Contact Email: sberb001@umaryland.edu |
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