How about a discussion regarding poison ivy treatment. ...I'm thinking they'll get a prescription for some cortisone cream. But other than creams and other topical ointments, are there any other treatments?
I have had a long and painful relationship with poison ivy. When I was younger I did a lot of rock climbing in undeveloped places, looking for new routes. One location with a particularly appealing crack system apparently was in the drainage system of an ivy field above. Well, crack climbing requires the insertion of body parts into the crack (different parts based on the width of the cracks), and this particular move required an arm bar. That is inserting an arm into the crack and wedging it to allow your weight to be transferred to the next higher location. As you can imagine, this is not a quick process and required much friction and abrasion of the bare arms (south facing rock, mid summer). Sweat, ivy and torn up skin drive the pleasure deep into the tissues - of course not to be discovered until the next day. It was weeping and bleeding for a couple of weeks with regular wrapping to allow me to sleep...
Anyway that apparently sensitized me to the sap, and in subsequent years any exposure has been traumatic to my skin.
I found a couple of products that seemed to work for me - Ivarest makes a soap to wash the exposed area before it becomes too far advanced, and another product, a cream to be applied to ease the resultant rash/blisters/weeping skin.
Your mileage may vary, however I keep a liberal amount of it on hand these days.
I have tried all manner of 'solutions' over the years from scrubbing, soap and water, the pink stuff, and other topical answers, but none have worked as well as Ivarest.