Poison Control

What is webPOISONCONTROL?
webPOISONCONTROL® is an innovative, online triage tool and app that guides users faced with a poison emergency through a series of simple questions to determine the toxicity. It helps you decide what to do when substances are swallowed, splashed in the eye or on the skin, inhaled, or injected. After providing the name of the substance, amount, age and weight, the user is given a case-specific recommendation. That recommendation could be that it’s safe to stay home because toxicity is minimal, that Emergency Room (ER) evaluation is required, or that further guidance from Poison Control (a phone call to 1-800-222-1222) is needed. When it’s safe to stay home, the user is also given information on specific symptoms that are likely to occur and not of concern, and symptoms that should trigger a call to Poison Control or an ER visit, should they develop.

In August 2016, The American Journal of Emergency Medicine published an article titled “webPOISONCONTROL: can poison control be automated?” The article analyzed the first 9,256 webPOISONCONTROL cases. The study found the app is safe, quick and easy to use. More than 400,000 people have used webPOISONCONTROL to get expert help online in a poison emergency.