Consumer Product Injury Game plan...

The Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units (PEHSUs) are a national network of experts in the prevention, diagnosis, management, and treatment of health issues that arise from environmental exposures from preconception through adolescence. 

If you or someone close to you experiences chemical exposure from a consumer product leading to injury, it's crucial to get treated by your Primary Care Physician (PCP) or an Emergency Room (ER) physician immediately. This step is often the sole opportunity for your condition or injury to be accurately diagnosed and acknowledged. Proper diagnosis is vital for several reasons:

• Insurance Reimbursement: It impacts how insurance companies process and reimburse medical expenses related to the injury.
• Injury Reporting: Accurate diagnosis ensures the injury is reported correctly, which is essential for establishing safety measures and controlling future exposure cases.
• Epidemiological Studies: It contributes to epidemiological data, crucial for understanding disease rates and developing preventive strategies.

The reality is that the exact chemical composition of toy products is often unknown at the point of purchase and to physicians at the point of care. This lack of information can hinder effective treatment and reporting. Moreover, many studies examining poison control centers' cost-effectiveness and efficacy are limited by insufficient or inadequate data, particularly regarding their effectiveness.

It's important to highlight that beyond consultation services, a key role of Poison Control is its function as a toxico-surveillance system. This allows for the real-time detection of surveillance anomalies and events of public health significance. Effective reporting by physicians and the public is crucial for identifying and mitigating public health risks.

There's a need for greater public awareness about The Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Units and America's Poison Center's in safeguarding community health.

Reference

Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Poison Prevention and Control.  Forging a Poison Prevention and Control System. Washington (DC):  National Academies Press (US); 2004.  6, Current Costs, Funding, and  Organizational Structures. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK215801 

Anita Mudan, Jacob A. Lebin & Craig G. Smollin (2022) The poisoning of big data: using large data registries for research in toxicology, Toxicology Communications, 6:1, 39-41,

https://doi.org/10.1080/24734306.2022.2045788

Cegolon, L., Lange, J. H., & Mastrangelo,  G. (2010). The Primary Care Practitioner and the diagnosis of  occupational diseases. BMC public health, 10, 405. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-10-405