Poisoning prevention: Tips for the holidays
Alan Jay Schwartz MD MSEd
The CDC’s (US Center for Disease Control and Prevention) PROTECT (PRevention of Overdoses and Treatment Errors in Children Taskforce) Initiative (https://www.cdc.gov/medication-safety/protect/?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/MedicationSafety/protect/protect_Initiative.html)reminds us in the upcoming holiday season, medication safety for children is a priority.
The Christmas and New Year’s holidays are upon us and many of you will be traveling, or your families will be traveling to you. The put your medicines up and away and out of sight organization (https://upandaway.org/en/ ), a CDC partner, offers the following suggestions:
The fall and winter holidays are a time when viral infections are common. This often means families have more medicines in the home to relieve symptoms of runny noses, coughs, and aches that come with virus season. Each year, approximately 35,000 young children are rushed to the emergency room because they got into medicines that were left within their reach. Healthcare providers can help remind parents, grandparents, and other caregivers to keep all medicines up and away and out of reach and sight of young children. This includes putting vitamins and other supplements, including those in gummy form, up and away too.
Share these safe medicine storage tips during the holidays and always:
Store medicines in a safe location that is too high for young children to reach or see.
Never leave medicines or supplements out on a kitchen counter or at a sick child’s bedside, even if you must give the medicine again in a few hours.
Always relock the safety cap on a medicine bottle. If it has a locking cap that turns, twist it until you can’t twist anymore or until you hear the “click.”
Tell children what medicine is and why you or another trusted caregiver must be the one to give it to them.
Never tell children medicine is candy, even if they don’t like to take their medicine.
Remind houseguests, babysitters, and visitors to keep purses, bags, or coats that have medicines in them up and away and out of reach and sight when they’re in your home.
Call Poison Help at 800-222-1222 right away if you think your child might have gotten into a medicine, vitamin, or other supplement, even if you are not completely sure.
Find more helpful tips and up and away educational resources by visiting UpAndAway.org
PS from Myron and while we are on the subject of ingestions…this from the New England Journal of Medicine Images in clinical medicine
Prasad G, Jain V. Small-Bowel Obstruction and Intestinal Fistula from Accidental Ingestion of Magnets. N Engl J Med. 2024 Nov 21;391(20):e48. doi: 10.1056/NEJMicm2406137. PMID: 39565992.
“A previously healthy 18-month-old girl was brought to the emergency department with sudden-onset abdominal distention that had been preceded by 3 days of diarrhea and 1 day of vomiting. On physical examination, the patient appeared lethargic and dehydrated. The abdomen was markedly distended with decreased bowel sounds, but there was no tenderness or guarding. An abdominal radiograph, obtained with the patient in the supine position, showed three circular radiopaque objects in the intestines, along with dilated loops of bowel (Panel A). Owing to concern about ingestion of a foreign body, an emergency exploratory laparotomy was performed. An ileocecal fistula (Panel B, circle) created by the union of three magnetic beads was identified (arrow, cecum; asterisk, ileum), and dilated loops of bowel were noted. The magnetic beads — which were later identified by the patient’s parents as coming from a toy composed of magnetic beads — were removed, and the bowel was repaired. A diagnosis of small-bowel obstruction and an intestinal fistula from accidental ingestion of magnets was made. Small magnets should be kept out of reach of children to prevent serious gastrointestinal complications of ingestion, such as tissue necrosis, fistulization, perforation, volvulus, or obstruction. The patient was discharged home on postoperative day 5. At the 2-week follow-up, her symptoms had abated and normal bowel function had returned.”