In an Emergency
1. Call the Poison Center Hotline (1-800-222-1222) if you or another person have been exposed to something that might cause an unwanted and/or unexpected reaction.
2. Remain calm - the majority of poison emergencies can be resolved quickly; over the phone
3. Call 9-1-1 if the person is unconscious or has difficulty breathing.
An essential component of the Illinois Poison Center's (IPC) mission is to provide state-of-the-art information and education to health care providers.
Through its call center services, the IPC seeks to improve the quality of patient outcomes, decrease the number of unnecessary emergency room visits, and allow for better use of health care resources. The IPC’s staff of specially trained physicians, pharmacists and nurses is available 24/7 to provide specialized consultation services on cases involving toxic substances everyday of the year.
As part of its public health mission, the IPC educates practicing healthcare professionals as well as those in training. The IPC provides on-site rotations to pharmacy and medical students, residents and fellows. IPC's clinical staff also provides didactic education to schools of medicine, pharmacy and nursing throughout the state. In addition, the IPC is a partner in the Toxikon Consortium and assists in the education of over 80 medical residents per year.
The IPC offers onsite and webinar based professional development training to healthcare professionals. Click here to download a brochure listing available presentations. Customized trainings are also available upon request.
Throughout the state, schools of nursing and pharmacy have integrated the online education in the Poison Prevention Resource Center as an easy, efficient way to educate their students on the importance of poison prevention and to give them the information necessary to teach these concepts to the patients they serve now and in the future. For more information on how you can integrate the Poison Prevention Education course into your program’s curriculum, please contact Vickie Dance, Education Outreach and Communications Manager at vdance@ilpoison.org.
This section of the IPC Web site contains clinical information to help health care professionals in the treatment of poisoning exposures, and materials to help prepare for potential mass-casualty events.
The IPC offers onsite and webinar based professional development training to healthcare professionals. Click here to download a brochure listing available presentations. Customized trainings are also available upon request.