Pediatric Emergency Physician offers poison prevention tips for parents
For children ages 18-36 months, poisoning is the number one cause of injury-related hospitalization and death, according to the Illinois Poison Center (IPC). With approximately 90,000 phone calls in 2011, the IPC estimates that half of those calls involved children ages 5 and younger.
The IPC has designated March as Illinois Poison Prevention month in an effort to raise awareness of this serious issue.
“Many of the poison-related cases seen in the pediatric ED usually involve toddlers who get into their family's medications,” states Dr. Charles Nozicka, the Medical Director of Pediatric Emergency Department at Advocate Condell. “For toddlers, ingestion of certain sustained-release heart medications such as calcium channel blockers is very dangerous. A single pill can cause death.”
Because children are especially vulnerable, Dr. Nozicka cautions parents and grandparents to be vigilant with toddlers around. “We have seen cases in which children mistake an alcoholic beverage for juice and consume it, leading to intoxication,” says Dr. Nozicka.
According to Dr. Nozicka, there are a number of precautions that parents can take to help prevent poison-related incidents with their children. He recommends taking the following steps to help keep your toddlers safe:
• Discard expired prescriptions immediately, and be sure all medications are stored in childproof containers
• Store prescriptions in a medicine cabinet that is well out of reach from toddlers
• Be especially vigilant when visiting older relatives who may keep their medications out on a nightstand
• Do not keep opened or unfinished alcoholic beverages—especially those that may look like fruit juice—out with young children around
Finally, Dr. Nozicka urges parents to keep the Illinois Poison Center hotline number posted in plain sight at home, and programmed into their cell phones. “The Poison Center personnel are specially trained to help determine the significance of any inadvertent medication ingestion. If a child is unconscious or has difficulty breathing, you should call 9-1-1.”
The Illinois Poison Center hotline is 1-800-222-1222 and is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year. For more information about the IPC, you can visit their web site at http://illinoispoisoncenter.org/.