Section 215.500  Staffing

a)         The Center shall have a Medical Director who is a physician, board certified or board eligible in medical toxicology. The Medical Director shall have a medical staff appointment at a comprehensive poison treatment facility and be involved in the management of poisoned patients.  In addition to clinical, academic teaching and research activities, the Medical Director shall formally commit at least 10 hours per week to poison center operational activities involving staff training, development of medical guidelines and quality assurance activities.  The Medical Director shall be responsible for:

1)         Establishing Center policies;

2)         Developing medical protocols;

3)         Case review;

4)         Quality assurance;

5)         Providing patient care, telephone supervision and case consultation; and

6)         Providing training and support to poison information specialists.

b)         The Center shall have an adequate number of properly trained and supervised poison information specialists to assure that phone calls are answered promptly and that poison information is provided in a timely manner. Specialists in poison information shall be registered nurses, pharmacists or physicians who are qualified to understand and interpret standard poison information resources and to transmit that information in a logical, concise, and understandable way to both health professionals and the public.  All specialists in poison information shall complete a training program approved by the Medical Director.

c)         Each Center shall have a full-time Managing Director responsible for operations, personnel, data analysis, and other administrative functions.  The Managing Director of a Regional Poison Control Center shall be a registered nurse, pharmacist, physician or shall hold a degree in a health science discipline. This individual may also be the Medical Director.  This individual should be certified or eligible for certification by the American Board of Medical Toxicology for physicians or by the American Board of Applied Toxicology for non-physicians.  In the absence of certification, the Managing Director shall demonstrate ongoing interest and expertise in toxicology as evidenced by publications, research and continuing education.  The Managing Director shall be able to clearly demonstrate full-time commitment to Center-related activities, including the areas of clinical toxicology, education, research and administration.