Clinical toxicology in Edinburgh, two centuries of progress.

The Scottish Poisons Information Bureau was established in Edinburgh in September 1963 and shortly afterwards one of the wards of the city's Royal Infirmary was designated a Regional Poisoning Treatment Centre. Both units were soon to be brought under one roof. To mark this 50th anniversary, we review how they built upon a history dating from the early 19th century and highlight their influence on current clinical toxicological practice and the delivery of poisons information. While many centres worldwide seek to improve the care of poisoned patients, the contribution of Edinburgh over the past 50 years has been notable.

Understanding poison control and protecting its future.

Poison centers save money and lives. Individual patients and their doctors benefit from local poison center availability, as do healthcare facilities and insurance companies. All have a stake in a stable poison control system. It is likely that the greatest contribution of poison control centers to society has yet to be realized. Poison control centers already possess an efficient, realtime surveillance mechanism (TESS). With increased funding, this can be expanded and made more available outside the poison control community. TESS can be used to detect chemical releases or attacks and environmental and infectious disease outbreaks as they occur - long before individual healthcare providers could connect the dots. In conclusion, while the value of a nationwide poison control system to society is well recognized, its future is not as clear. Establishing a stable system to monitor and treat poisonings in the US will take political will at the local, state, and federal levels to ensure full funding for years to come.

Hawaii Poison Center. Forty years of saving lives and health costs.

The Hawaii Poison Center was established because poisoning was a significant public health problem in the 1950s. The history and status of the Center, in the context of national trends and key issues in poison control public health infrastructure, is reviewed.

The nation's first poison control center: taking a stand against accidental childhood poisoning in Chicago.

Prior to the 1950's, there existed no formal system for poison prevention or treatment in the US. Estimates place the number of pediatric poisoning fatalities at over 400/y at that time. After World War II, urbanization and modern technological methods brought forth over 250,000 different brand name products on the market. Health care professionals presented with cases of acute poisoning usually had little knowledge of what ingredients were contained in these new products, making it difficult to treat these patients. In the 1930's, pharmacist Louis Gdalman established a poison information service at St Luke's hospital. Because of Gdalman's training in pharmacy and chemistry, physicians throughout Chicago and the US called on him in search of assistance. In the late 1940's, Gdalman began recording information on small cards, and developed a standard data collection from. By the 1950's he had established an extensive library on the management of acute and chronic poisonings. In 1948, a national effort to reduce the number of accidents in children was started by the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a committee was formed in Chicago to address this public safety need. In November, 1953, the poison center at Presbyterian-St Luke's Hospital was formally recognized, and the poison program model spread nationwide. As the number of poison centers grew, coordination was achieved through the National Clearing House for Poison Control Centers, founded in 1957, and the American Association of Poison Control Centers, created in 1958. By 1970, the number of poison centers in the US was reported to be 597. The need for large and better centers led to regional poison control centers. Other outgrowths were the formation of the National Poison Prevention Week Council, the enactment of the Poison Prevention Packaging Act, development of "Mr. Yuk" and other symbols, and formation of the National Animal Poison Control Center. As a result, the number of children dying from accidental poisoning has dropped to under 50/y.

Proyecto del Centro Nacional de Toxicología a junio 1996 / Project of the National Center of Toxicology to June 1996

Presenta Proyecto del Centro Nacional de Toxicología a junio 1996 y la propuestas para la implementación del Centro Nacional de Toxicología en Nicaragua. El proyecto se realiza por la enorme cantidad de productos disponibles por el ser humano, a los pocos conocimientos en toxicología que poseen los profesionales del área de salud, así como la necesidad de centralizar la información toxicológica disponible. El fin principal del proyecto es que en Nicaragua exista un Centro Nacional de Toxicología que coordine actividades asistenciales, preventivas, informativas, de capacitación y de investigación, además que permita coordinar con organismos nacionales e internacionales en diversas áreas de la toxicología para el control de los productos cuya utilización ofrezcan algún riesgo para la salud y el ambiente.

Intoxicaçöes na cidade do Panamá / Poisoning in the Panamá city

Analisa os diferentes tipos de intoxicaçöes causadas por medicamentos, produtos químicos de uso domiciliar e industrial, pesticidas, animais peçonhentos, alimentos, drogas e bebidas alcoolicas. Foram analisados os prontuários dos pacientes com diagnóstico de intoxicaçäo segundo a CID-9, no período de junho a dezembro de 1993, no "Hospital del Niño" e "Caja del Seguro Social", e de junho de 1993 a maio de 1994 no "Hospital Santo Tomas", na Cidade do Panamá, República do Panamá. A seguir, os resultados mais relevantes: o sexo masculino foi o que apresentou um maior número de intoxicaçöes, acompanhando os índices de outros países; o sexo feminino apresentou a maior freqüência de casos de tentativas de suicídio em todas as idades e o maior número de intoxicaçöes por medicamentos; nos Hospitais "del Niño" e o da "Caja del Seguro Social" as intoxicaçöes por agente desconhecido ocuparam o primeiro lugar; os produtos químicos ocuparam o primeiro lugar como agente conhecido no "Hospital del Niño"; os medicamentos ocuparam o segundo lugar dentro dos agentes conhecidos e o primeiro lugar entre todos os tipos de agente tóxico incluídos neste estudo; a maioria dos casos ocorreram no ambiente domiciliar urbano; no Hospital Santo Tomás os acidentes por animais peçonhentos ocuparam o primeiro lugar das intoxicaçöes

Louis Gdalman, pioneer in hospital pharmacy poison information services.

The role played by hospital pharmacist Louis Gdalman in the development of poisoning information services in the Chicago area is described. In the 1930s, decades before the creation of the Chicago Poisoning Control Program, Louis Gdalman had already established a poison information service at St. Luke's Hospital in Chicago. Pharmacists provided poison information to the physicians and nurses working in the emergency room. By the early 1950s, Gdalman had established an extensive library of information on the management of acute and chronic poisoning and had developed a standard form for the collection of data from poison information calls. He personally provided a 24-hour poison information service and often took calls at home. In 1953, the American Academy of Pediatrics initiated the Chicago Area Poisoning Control Program and established treatment and referral centers at 11 hospitals, including St. Luke's Hospital. Louis Gdalman was the only pharmacist involved in this city-wide program. By 1962, the Master Poison Control Center was established at St. Luke's Hospital, which had merged with Presbyterian Hospital in 1956. Today, this center, known as the Chicago and Northeastern Illinois Regional Poison Control Center, is located at the Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago. Louis Gdalman, a hospital pharmacist, pioneered the area of poison information and established what was perhaps the first hospital-based comprehensive poison control center.

Concepçäo e organizaçäo de um centro de Controle de intoxicaçöes / Conception and organization of a poison control center

Objetivou-se contribuir para uma melhor compreensäo da importância dos Centros de Controle de Intoxicaçöes (ou Centros Anti-Veneno), através do relato de sua concepçäo e organizaçäo. Ressaltou-se a necessidade destes centros atuarem integrados a instituiçöes, a entidade privadas e à comunidade, e a importância dos setores de epidemilogia e prevençäo, de análises toxicológicas e de pesquisa científica nestes centros. Enfatizou-se a necessidade de sua intervençäo na área de promoçäo e proteçäo à saúde mental e de capacitaçäo profissional. Foram sugeridas algumas providências que concorreräo para maior esclarecimento e, consequentemente, para a diminuiçäo da incidência de intoxicaçöes, revertendo em economia de recursos financeiros que säo necessários ao atendimento integral de pacientes intoxicados