Managing Mental Health Crisis Calls Received by a US Poison Center: A Statewide Collaboration Between the Georgia Poison Center, 911, and 988.

Matthew Robert Dernbach, Stephanie Hon, Gaylord Lopez, Nadine J Kaslow, Joseph E Carpenter, Kevin Tanner, Aleisha Rucker-Wright, Dawn Peel, Andrea Corley, Ryan Davis Solis and 9 more

American Journal of Public Health · 2025-08-28 · Implementation & quality improvement

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Abstract

The Georgia Poison Center developed a protocol for managing mental health crisis cases via iterative feedback with Georgia 911-related emergency medical services and Georgia 988-related mental health services. The Georgia Poison Center managed 533 such cases in 2024 (the year of protocol implementation), of which 45 (8.4%) were transferred to 911. Our study demonstrates that emergency services can effectively develop statewide collaborations to improve mental health outcomes and that poison centers have a vital role in national suicide prevention efforts. (Am J Public Health. 2025;115(11):1814-1817. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2025.308229).

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Tags

Communication & handover · Dispatchers & call takers · Implementation · Interagency collaboration

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