MedicationSafe http://medicationsafe.com kids act fast, we keep them safe Fri, 16 Dec 2011 20:41:33 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), partnering with the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC), announce an exciting new education program to protect children from unintentional medication overdoses. There’s an important campaign being launched by the CDC to protect children from unintentional medication overdoses. The campaign is called, Up and Away and Out of Sight.

From the CDC website:

http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/?p=2070

Keeping Medicines Up and Away and Out of Sight of Toddlers
December 13th, 2011 2:53 pm ET
Up And Away Campaign
http://medicationsafe.com/2011/12/16/the-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention-cdc-partnering-with-the-american-association-of-poison-control-centers-aapcc-announce-an-exciting-new-education-program-to-protect-children-from-un/ IMPORTANT!!! Accidental Medication Poisonings in Kids on the Rise There have been several news articles this past week regarding a new study to be published in the Journal of Pediatrics: The Growing Impact of Pediatric Pharmaceutical Poisoning.

From U.S. News and World Report, September 16, 2011:

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/managing-your-healthcare/treatment/articles/2011/09/16/accidental-medication-poisonings-in-kids-on-the-rise
Despite ongoing prevention efforts, a growing number of young children are being accidentally poisoned with [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2011/09/19/important-accidental-medication-poisonings-in-kids-on-the-rise/ New Ways to PROTECT and Prevent Overdoses in Children This past week there has been much news about an FDA released guidance document for manufacturers of liquid OTC drugs, calling for all such products to be packaged with calibrated dosing devices.

These recommendations follow from work done by a CDC led task force which resulted in the PROTECT initiative: http://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/protect/protect_Initiative.html.

From the Stanford School [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2011/05/13/new-ways-to-protect-and-prevent-overdoses-in-children/ Young Kids’ Prescriptions Not Always on the Mark A study presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies annual meeting in Denver and reported by Bloomberg Businessweek: http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/652405.html found that for children younger than 2 months, the prescribed dosage for narcotics was too high 40 percent of the time.

The study reviewed more than 50,000 prescriptions for narcotic-containing drugs given to kids up to [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2011/05/06/young-kids-prescriptions-not-always-on-the-mark/ Federal Funding of Poison Control Centers CUT by 25% From the American Association of Poison Control Centers:

For Immediate Release April 13, 2011

American Association of Poison Control Centers: Poison Centers Federal Appropriations Cut by Nearly 25 percent in Proposed FY 2011 Continuing Resolution; Damaging Impact to States’ Ability to Help Citizens

Alexandria, Va. –U.S. poison centers suffered a nearly 25 percent cut in [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2011/04/15/federal-funding-of-poison-control-centers-cut-by-25/ ED visits for drug-related poisoning in the United States, 2007 A new study by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital examined emergency department (ED) visits for drug-related poisonings and found that in just one year (2007) in the U.S., there were approximately 700,000 ED visits costing nearly $1.4 billion in ED charges alone. This [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2011/03/24/ed-visits-for-drug-related-poisoning-in-the-united-states-2007/ Cutting Poison Control, editorial from the New York Times The following comes from an editorial in the New York Times published online March 3, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/opinion/04fri4.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=poison%20control&st=cse.

Cutting Poison Control

PRESIDENT’S F.Y. 2010-11 REQUEST: $29 MILLION

 

HOUSE VOTED: $2 MILLION

 

Eliminating nearly all the money for poison control centers would save $27 million — not even a rounding error when it [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2011/03/04/cutting-poison-control-editorial-from-the-new-york-times/ The Effect of Label Changes to Children’s OTC Cough and Cold Products We came across a great blog entry from our colleagues at the Illinois Poison Center. They summarize findings from the article: Adverse events from cough and cold medications after a market withdrawal of products labeled for infants, published in Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

From their blog:

The study compared [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2011/01/18/the-effect-of-label-changes-to-childrens-otc-cough-and-cold-products/ New warnings issued to remind people to store medicines properly This story comes from KAIT, ABC 8 in Jonesboro, AR, more great information and advice. The whole story can be found here: http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=13334377.

From the article:

“Whether they’re over the counter medications or prescription medications, they should be kept out of reach,” said Dr. Shane Speights.  In fact, new warnings are being [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2010/11/19/new-warnings-issued-to-remind-people-to-store-medicines-properly/ Most ER cases for swallowing pills involve kids According to an article in the USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/health/medical/pediatrics/2010-10-14-poisoningsonline_ST_N.htm

Children under age 5 make up the bulk of the more than 100,000 Americans treated in emergency rooms each year after accidentally swallowing medications.

Most such poisonings occur in 1- and 2-year-olds — an age group whose curiosity and climbing skills often outstrip [...]]]> http://medicationsafe.com/2010/11/05/most-er-cases-for-swallowing-pills-involve-kids/