Certified Regional Poison Information Center

However, the large number of centers flourished until healthcare reform (and associated cost containment) occurred in the late 1980s and 1990s, resulting in significant attrition among poison centers. Today there are only 69 PICs, 54 of which are AAPCC Certified Regional Poison Information Centers. 

There are two types of PICs in the United States— AAPCC Certified Regional Poison Information Centers (RPICs) and nonregional centers. All centers that chose not to participate in the voluntary certification process or fail to become certified are defined as nonregional centers. (See Appendix 1 for the complete description of the AAPCC certification criteria.) In summary, RPICs do the following ... 

THE NATION S CERTIFIED REGIONAL POISON INFORMATION CENTERS... 

D) All Specialists in Poison Information, whether full-time or part-time, must be 100% dedicated to poison center activities during periods when they are assigned to the center. Poison center calls must be their first priority. In cases where a poison center assumes other roles, the center must demonstrate policies and safeguards that assure that poison center calls are given priority and that these other activities pose no conflict with poison exposure cases and cause no reduction of service quality or quantity within the certified poison center s region. 

Certified Poison Center Specialty Consultants. Certified poison center specialty consultants should be qualified by training or experience to provide sophisticated toxicology or patient care information in their area(s) of expertise. These consultants should be available on-call and provide consultation on-call on an as-needed basis. The list of consultants should reflect the type of poisonings encountered in the region. 

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