Nebraska Regional Poison Center (NRPC) Fact Sheet
- The NRPC will be staffed by a board-certified medical toxicologist and certified/certified-eligible RN Specialists in Poison Information (“CSPIs”)
- The center will be designated as the regional poison center for Nebraska and Wyoming. It is expected to receive calls from five other surrounding states.
- The center will be certified by the American Association of Poison Control Centers.
- The center is expected to receive more than 35,000 calls a year, with more than 25,000 of these calls resulting from human poisoning exposures.
- 55 percent of exposures involve children under the age of 6.
- 15 percent of calls to the poison center are expected to come from health professionals requesting information and assistance in managing poisonings.
- The NRPC will provide bedside consultation on the most seriously poisoned patients at NHS University and Clarkson Hospitals, Creighton University Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital.
- The NRPC will save lives by providing treatment advice and enhancing the efficiency of poison care.
- The NRPC will save money, in part, by eliminating needless healthcare visits and allowing individuals to manage the majority of exposures at home. The NRPC is expected to make more than 36,000 follow-up calls a year.
- For every $1 invested in the center, it is expected that $7 will be saved in avoided health care costs.
- The NRPC will mail out almost 250,000 poison prevention brochures, telephone stickers, refrigerator magnets and other educational materials annually.
- The poison center’s CSPIs will give poison prevention talks at schools, and will be involved in Omaha Safe Kids Coalition and the Nebraska Injury Prevention Coalition.
- The medical director and managing director will provide continuing medical education programs for emergency department and hospital staff and first responders throughout Nebraska and Wyoming.
- The medical director will teach medical, pharmacy, graduate students and medical residents, as well as provide continuing education for practicing physicians.
- The center will track the location and amounts of antidotes in our region.
- The NRPC will perform regional-specific research and publication, including work on Organic Dust Toxic Syndrome (a lung condition seen in farming and other rural occupations) and human effects of accidental exposure to veterinary medications.
- The NRPC will be part of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services System’s (NEHHSS) Health Alert Network. The center will work closely with NEHHSS and the Omaha Metropolitan Medical Response System in surveillance and planning efforts for responding to potential or actual nuclear, biologic or chemical (NBC) weapons use.
- The NRPC will provide information and help to coordinate the response to hazardous materials exposure incidents.
- The NRPC will participate in the national Toxic Exposure Surveillance System (TESS), which helps track the national pattern of toxic exposures and is being evaluated as a tool for detection of NBC events.