Background: webPOISONCONTROL®

webPOISONCONTROL is an innovative online triage tool and app that offers a new way for the public to find out what to do in a poison emergency. Based on age, weight, substance, amount, symptoms and time since the exposure, it provides specific recommendations for possible poisonings like these:

• My toddler just got into grandma's blood pressure pills.

• The baby ate a cigarette butt.

• I sprayed cleaner in my eye.

• Oops, the blue liquid in that cup wasn't soda. I just swallowed antifreeze.

• I took my antidepressant twice this morning.

• My child ate water beads.

• My teen took 6 pain pills for her headache.

• My wife inhaled bleach fumes.

• My 2 year old drank hand sanitizer.

• My husband splashed gasoline on his leg.

• My 3 year old ate blue berries from a bush.

• I was stung by fire ants.

• My son ate half a bottle of gummy vitamins.

• I took my husband's medicine instead of mine.

webPOISONCONTROL guides you through a series of simple questions to help you decide what to do when substances that could be poisonous are swallowed, splashed in the eye or on the skin, inhaled, or injected or when there's a bite or sting. After providing the name of the substance (or scanning its barcode), amount swallowed, age, weight, specific symptoms and time since the exposure, the user is given a case-specific recommendation. That recommendation could be: it's safe to stay home because toxicity is minimal; go immediately to the ER; or call your poison center (1-800-222-1222) for further guidance. When it’s safe to stay home, the user is also given information on symptoms that are likely to occur and not of concern, and symptoms that should trigger a call to your poison center or an ER visit, should they develop.

Try it now: Be prepared for a poison emergency

webPOISONCONTROL is an online web tool which can be found at poison.org. It's also a free mobile app downloadable on the App Store or on Google play.

Parents and childcare providers are encouraged to be prepared for a poison emergency and should download the app to a mobile device before it's needed. Or go to poison.org and try it out. Click on the green button labeled "Get help online", then check the box labeled "This is not a real case." That checkbox let's you make up a case without affecting any public health statistics, so feel free to try it out!

While the triage tool is the unique component of webPOISONCONTROL, the online version has an accompanying pill identifier, nearly 600 articles on specific poisons with toxicity information and prevention tips, downloadable prevention materials, a dashboard to explore webPOISONCONTROL poisoning stats, and a summary of US poisoning calls to poison centers. The site also offers an opportunity to subscribe to The Poison Post^®, a free, quarterly poison safety e-newsletter.

Forging change in the way poison exposure triage and treatment guidance is delivered

The safety and feasibility of webPOISONCONTROL were established through intensive pilot testing that began on Dec 30, 2014. webPOISONCONTROL  has provided triage and treatment guidance for 1.2 million poison exposures since it was launched, currently handling more than 150,000 cases/year. Continued enhancements are improving the user experience and expanding features and scope. Sponsored by the National Capital Poison Center, poison experts from a number of US poison centers have contributed to the project. webPOISONCONTROL is entirely funded by charitable contributions.

The need for online Poison Control

webPOISONCONTROL was developed to respond to a shift in the way people access health information, with a growing use of computers and smart phones to obtain information on the internet instead of by telephone. According to the US Census Bureau, 83.8% of US households owned computers and 73.4% had high-speed internet connections in 2013. Seventy-two percent of internet users look for health information online. Studies conducted by the Pew Research Center show that 64% of Americans own smartphones, and 62% of owners use their phone to obtain health information. This shift has contributed in part to a 27% decline in human poison exposures reported to poison centers from 2004 to 2023, indicating that a growing portion of the public prefers to get poison help online rather than by phone.

In the past, turning to the internet for guidance in a poison emergency wasn't a safe option. Case-specific poison information available on the internet was limited and often inaccurate. The primary reason we developed webPOISONCONTROL was to provide an online Poison Control resource that the public can trust. That's why webPOISONCONTROL was created and meticulously reviewed by poison experts – board-certified clinical and medical toxicologists and Certified Specialists in Poison Information.

The second reason for developing webPOISONCONTROL relates to the US poison centers' constant struggle to secure adequate funding. Time and time again, poison centers have been shown to provide life-saving and cost-saving services, with a study estimating the return on investment at $13.39 saved per dollar spent. But despite undisputed efficacy of services, poison center funding at most US poison centers remains unstable. webPOISONCONTROL has the potential to decrease the cost of triaging and treating poison exposures nationally, lessening the fiscal challenges facing traditional poison centers.

The third reason for developing webPOISONCONTROL was to improve the efficiency of delivering guidance in a poison emergency by establishing standardized triage algorithms. These algorithms form the core of webPOISONCONTROL and also guide Specialists in Poison Information in more than 20 US poison centers. Robust guidelines serve to:

• Eliminate the inefficiencies of repeatedly researching a substance's toxic threshold,

• Eliminate the inefficiencies of each poison center developing guidelines independently,

• Speed the training of new specialists in poison information (those who answer the phone in a poison center),

• Improve uniformity of care both within centers and between geographic regions.

How it works

webPOISONCONTROL is powered by more than 3,000 algorithms, each matched to the corresponding ingredient(s) in more than 200,000 products. An additional 1.5 million product barcodes are linked in the product database to enable product identification by barcode scanning. The algorithms provide age- or weight-based triage thresholds for each ingredient. Algorithms also outline the justification for the threshold, list the expected symptoms and the symptoms which require further medical evaluation, specify appropriate home treatment where appropriate, define the onset and duration of symptoms, and set a risk window beyond which significant toxicity is unlikely if clinical manifestations have not already begun. Special logic is incorporated to handle each formulation type, multi-ingredient products, multiple routes (swallowed, eye, skin, inhalation, injection, bite/sting), unknown amounts, unknown weight, and the minimum possible weight for age. Users are encouraged (but not required) to provide an email address to receive a copy of the case and recommendations. The email address also serves as the key to case follow-up, and users are emailed at intervals appropriate to the substance kinetics and urged, for their own safety, to follow a link to a follow-up module. That module gathers information on what was actually done (stayed home, went to ER, admitted to hospital, etc) and what specific symptoms developed, if any. Any specific symptoms are further evaluated and compared to worrisome effects of the poison exposure, occasionally triggering a change in the triage recommendation for the case, if indicated.

When to call a poison center and when to use the app

A recent analysis showed that about 44% of human poison exposure cases handled over the phone by traditional call-based poison centers could potentially be handled online if the user preferred to do so. webPOISONCONTROL is a game changer, and may dramatically alter the delivery of poison help in the U.S., but it certainly will not make poison centers obsolete. Human experts are still required to provide triage or treatment guidance for complex cases.

Use webPOISONCONTROL for unintentional, single substance exposures occurring in people who are between the ages of 6 months and 79 years and are not pregnant. For other cases, call a poison center at 1-800-222-1222. If you'd rather talk to a real person, you can always call your poison center for immediate and expert assistance. Your call is free and confidential. Above all, don't guess. Either use webPOISONCONTROL or call.

For more information contact: Email pc@poison.org with questions about webPOISONCONTROL. If your question involves a poison exposure, please use the webPOISONCONTROL tool or call a poison center (1-800-222-1222 in the US). We are not staffed to provide clinical advice by email.