NM Poison & Drug Information Center
MSC09 5080
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Emergency Line: 1-800-222-1222
Phone: (505) 272-4261
Fax: (505) 272-5892
Continuing education sessions for poison center staff, interested university faculty, and pharmacy students and emergency residents on rotation are designed to update staff and faculty on selected topics in clinical toxicology.
All emergency medicine residents at the University of New Mexico complete at least one four-week clinical toxicology clerkship in the poison center during their residency training. The rotation emphasizes the continuum of poisoning care - often beginning with a call to the regional poison center, and is comprised of bedside patient rounds, poison center paper rounds, clinical toxicology review session, and didactic/discussion sessions on all major poisoning topics. Since many of the UNM emergency medicine residents elect to practice in New Mexico hospitals, the poison center training has been an important tool in establishing strong relationship with emergency physicians throughout the State.
An elective two-credit course (Pharmacy 782) is offered to second and third professional year students at the College of Pharmacy fall semester starting in 2006. Students learn about the assessment, treatment and prevention of common poisonings.
A required 3-credit course for second professional year pharmacy students. This course is an examination of the structure of biomedical literature and research with emphasis on the recognition, evaluation, and application of different study types and the data they produce.
A four-week clerkship for fourth professional year pharmacy students. The clerkship offers students an opportunity to field drug information inquiries through the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center's drug information service while strengthening literature evaluation skills.
The New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center offers a two-year fellowship in clinical toxicology.
The goal of the fellowship is to increase new knowledge in clinical toxicology by providing motivated,
pharmacy scholars with personalized post-doctoral research, administrative, and clinical training.
The program is also designed to impart candidates with skills, knowledge and abilities necessary to
function as a clinical toxicologist within a variety of clinical settings including a poison center,
a clinical toxicology consulting service, an emergency, governmental agencies, or academia.
Participants in this fellowship will develop skills necessary to:
Primary fellowship activities will take place within the New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center, a part of the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy. Fellows will also have an opportunity to round on patients within the University of New Mexico Hospital and to collaborate with faculty and staff of the University of New Mexico Department of Emergency Medicine, the New Mexico Department of Health, the New Mexico Office of Medical Investigation and the University of New Mexico Center For Disaster Medicine.
A major focus of research efforts within the New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center is the development of evidence-based guidelines for the management of poisonings. Research efforts focus on:
The clinical toxicology fellow will be considered to be part of the poison center clinical management team. They will have patient care, teaching, and research responsibilities. At a minimum, the fellow must understand the assessment, care and treatment of poisoned patients, the general operation of a poison center, poison center data collection practices, and common research techniques. Since the fellow will be asked to man the poison center phone, to see patients with the medical team, and to create a robust research program within a relatively short period of time they must strive to master a number of key skills as the fellowship progresses. The following serves as a rough guide for the fellow. It is not meant to be comprehensive and will vary depending on the background and interests of the fellow.
During the first month of the fellowship the fellow must:
Within the first two months the fellow must:
Within the first three months the fellow must:
In addition to the activities listed above the fellow will also have an opportunity to participate in poison center strategic planning, UNM personnel management training, research training courses, and state-funded projects.
By April of the first year at least one project must be submitted to the North American Congress of Clinical Toxicology for presentation. This project should be submitted for publication by November of the first year. The other project should be submitted to NACCT in May of the second year and completed by June of the second year.
To facilitate project progress the Director and Medical Director will meet with the fellow on at least a monthly basis. During these research review meetings, fellow will review the status of all research projects. The Director and Medical Director will provide constructive input and assist the fellow when they encounter barriers.
The fellow has obligations in the areas of teaching, service and scholarly activity. Many of these activities should strengthen working knowledge in clinical toxicology and compliment the research work being performed throughout the fellowship. All of these responsibilities are as important as the research that is being performed. The fellow is expected to perform each with the same level of enthusiasm and professional integrity as the research that is being performed.
The fellow will be formally evaluated at the end of year one and year two. The Director and Medical Director will generate a progress report encapsulating progress made in accomplishing research objectives and in mastering daily teaching and service obligations.
Applicants must:
Base Stipend: $37,500 for first year and $39,500 for second year
Fellows receive 15 days of annual leave, 15 sick leave days per year and are
eligible for all University of New Mexico benefits except retirement. For
additional information concerning UNM benefits please contact HSC Human Resources
at (505) 272-6445, or consult the UNM Benefits website at http://www.unm.edu/~hr/benefits/.
The New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center will fund travel to the North American
Clinical Toxicology Conference each year of the fellowship. There will also be a small
amount of funding available to cover research expenses.
The following documents are needed to complete an application for the fellowship:
Application deadline is in February each year.
Please direct your application to:
Blaine (Jess) Benson, Pharm.D., DABAT
Clinical Toxicology Fellowship Director
Director, New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center
Associate Professor, UNM College of Pharmacy
1 University of New Mexico
MSC09 5080
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Telephone: (505) 272-4261
Email: jebenson@salud.unm.edu
Fax: (505) 925-4077
Blaine (Jess) Benson, Pharm.D., DABAT
Clinical Toxicology Fellowship Director
Director, New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center
Associate Professor, UNM College of Pharmacy
1 University of New Mexico
MSC09 5080
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Telephone: (505) 272-4261
Email: jebenson@salud.unm.edu
Fax: (505) 925-4077
Steven Seifert, MD, FACMT, FACEP
Professor, University of New Mexico School of Medicine
Medical Director, New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center
MSC09 5080
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, NM 87131-0001
Telephone: (505) 272-4261
Email: sseifert@salud.unm.edu
Fax: (505)272-5892
