In the United States every 15 seconds a Poison Control
Centers receives a call. The interesting factor is more than half the phone
calls are made by an adult taking care of the child, when the child ingests or
is exposed to a poisonous substance. The substances can include medicine,
household chemical, and pesticides. The Center for Disease Control reports
there is approximately 2 million poison exposures in the United States every
year, more than 57% of the exposures are children under the age of 6.
Approximately 30 children die every year related to accidentally poisonings.
For children the most common exposure of household products includes; cleaning
substances, medications, cosmetics, personal care products, foreign body ingestion and plants. A staggering statistic of the majority of accidental poisonings
is 90 percent occur in the home.
Children under the age of 6 are very curious and like to
explore. It only takes a moment for a small child to find and swallow a
poisonous substance. Distractions such as the telephone, doorbell, or cooking
something on the stove is more than enough time for a little one to find something
to get into. The Poison Control Center is the 9-1-1 for poison emergencies. The
national line is toll-free and automatically routes the call to the local
Poison Control Center, 1-800-222-1222. The center is staffed 24 hours a day,
seven days a week with medical professionals; Registered Nurses, Pharmacists, Physicians,
and Poison Information Specialists. It is recommended having the 1-800-222-1222
number posted by the home phone (landline) and saved as a favorite in an individual’s
cell phone.
Helpful information to have when calling the Poison Control
Center:
- Age of the victim
- Weight of the victim
- Existing health conditions or problems
- Substance or product involved, and the type of exposure-swallowed, inhaled, skin contact, or splashed in eyes. You may be asked to read the label exactly to help provide the necessary treatment recommendations.
- Time the exposure occurred
- Any type of first aid given- washed face, flushed eyes with water. The Poison Control Center does not recommend inducing vomiting; it can make the situation worse.
- Any symptoms the victim may have; vomiting, choking, irritation to skin or eyes
- The location and which hospital is nearest
Not all products are labeled correctly to deal with
suspected poisonings. An example may be ingestion of dish soap and the
recommendation is to drink several glasses of water. Depending on the size of
the person ingesting this product can change the recommendations. Small
children do not do well drinking several glasses of water at once and may
vomit. Some products do not have warning labels; this does not mean the product
is safe for ingestion. Looking up
product information on the internet is not always reliable and providing the
correct information, an individual’s best opportunity is to call the Poison
Control Center.
No comments:
Post a Comment