Collaborative Use of Poison Center Data Hazardous Exposure and Illness Surveillance

Brief Summary
United States federal, state and local public health often collaborate with poison centers (PCs) for hazardous exposure and illness surveillance. The primary goals of this collaboration are to improve public health surveillance for hazardous exposures and illnesses by identifying early markers of chemical incidents and to find cases of illness during an emerging public health incident in order to enhance situational awareness. Though most poison center and public health officials agree that PC data can play an important role in public health practice and surveillance, collaboration between public health and PCs has been hindered by challenges. To address these challenges and bolster collaboration, the Poison Center and Public Health Collaborations Community of Practice (CoP) was created by CDC as a means to share experiences, identify best practices, and facilitate relationships among federal, state and local public health departments and PCs. This presentation will provide the federal, state, and poison center perspective to collaboration and also discuss ways to facilitate these relationships.