Your Michigan Poison Center
The Michigan Poison Center (MPC) began operations at Wayne State University just four months ago. Prior to the transitioning to WSU, our operations were hosted by Children's Hospital of Michigan since 1958. Thus far, the changes at your Michigan Poison Center have been exciting and exceedingly positive and will lead to ongoing benefits for the people we serve now and for years to come.
The Michigan Poison Center handles more that 60,000 calls annually. Calls to the Michigan Poison Center come from homes, schools, health care facilities, and other organizations. The Michigan Poison Center is on the front-line of emerging trends related to drug use/abuse and other poison related issues effecting residents in our region and even beyond our borders. The dedication, knowledge and experience of our medical toxicology staff is an invaluable resource to those we serve.
The Michigan Poison Center call center is staffed by professionals with medical, nursing, and pharmaceutical backgrounds. When calling the MPC, Specialists in Poison Information (SPI) are to whom you will speak with. Specialists in Poison Information have trained for years to achieve certification. Advice provided by our SPI's is the product of this training and previous experience in their respective fields of practice. Medical providers throughout our state have been speaking with some our specialists for years and know them by name. The experience and decades of service behind our SPI staff is yet another vital resource provided to residents of our state.
In every aspect of operating a poison center, education is the underlying mission of our work. Our goals are to teach about poison prevention and reducing poison-related injuries. To say that we are a poison education center would not be entirely incorrect, as many of our calls are spend reassuring and answering questions callers may have.
For many years we have experienced increasingly complex calls from healthcare facilities regarding cases requiring consulting services by our medical toxicology consulting staff. This group of nine medical toxicology board-certified physicians are led by our Medical Director, Dr. Cynthia Aaron, M.D.
In addition to phone consultation, we provide a bedside inpatient consulting service at a few local hospitals. Consultants also conduct a month-long toxicology rotation for approximately 120 resident-physicians annually. By educating the future generations of physicians, we hope to make a substantial impact on the care of poisoned patients who present to hospitals across the state and beyond.
So, what changes can you expect from the Michigan Poison Center? Education Outreach expansion is our focus in 2020. We are developing partnerships with local agencies and other agencies throughout the state who serve all family members. Historically, our Education Outreach program has been focused on childhood safety and providing information about products in the home. However, as times are changing we are seeing more exposures to prescription and over-the-counter medications, and other substances. These kinds of exposures are one reason to broaden public knowledge of household poisonings.
One thing we are excited to have begun since the transition to WSU, has been expanded outreach to areas beyond our base in Metro-Detroit as well. We have had the opportunity to present to organizations outside of the tri-county area, and we look forward to continued promotion of poison prevention throughout the entire state in the years to come.
The Michigan Poison Center serves all members of every community in this great state. We look forward to speaking with you and providing you with information and tools to help prevent poisonings and reduce poison related injuries. We are honored to be working at your poison center.
Denise Kolakowski
Poison Center Educator
