Poison Center Achieves Reaccreditation

• By Mark Hendricks
• December 20, 2016

The Texas Panhandle Poison Center (TPPC), hosted by the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Pharmacy in Amarillo, has achieved reaccreditation through 2023 from the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC).

TPPC, which also undergoes annual compliance reviews, is required to go through reaccreditation every seven years to ensure it provides quality services and to secure federal funding. To achieve reaccreditation, TPPC and all other poison centers undertake an extensive peer-review process that includes a review of policies, procedures, call management efforts to educate the public and health care providers, in the context of nationally recognized standards for poison control centers.

According to AAPCC, the primary functions of a poison control center are to enhance the health of the lay public by assessing exposures and providing timely information, including referral to health care facilities when indicated; and to enhance the care of poisoned patients by providing timely information on diagnosis and treatment to health care professionals.

“For severe and unusual poisonings, poison centers serve as a free resource to both the public and health care providers,” TPPC Medical Director Thomas Martin, M.D, said. “Also, physicians who are managing poison cases may consult with board-certified medical toxicologists by using poison center services.”

TPPC Managing Director Jeanie Jaramillo-Stametz, Pharm.D, said Texas poison centers save the public, insurers and other payers millions of dollars each year by providing assistance over the phone and preventing unnecessary emergency room visits. 

“There are types of poison exposures in which a patient needs to go to the emergency room, but with a majority of poisonings, our trained medical staff can manage patients at home without the expense of going to an emergency room,” Jaramillo-Stametz said.

Visit TPPC's website for more information.