A disturbing discovery has been revealed recently. It was found that there are approximately 160 young kids who are brought to the emergency room of the hospital for accidentally ingesting vitamins, OTC medications, or prescription meds. The reported from Safe Kids Worldwide looked at the current situation and found an alarming result.
While it is true that medicines are important for combating diseases, alleviating clinical symptoms and prolonging lives, one cannot help but also admit that it can totally be unsafe if it ends up in the wrong hands, especially to those who think it's nothing but something you just eat. According to Tech Times, since the 1980s, medicines found inside the household have steadily increased. Now, there are three times more prescription medications found at home than ever before. This only means that children at home have a higher risk of being exposed to these potentially dangerous drugs.
In 2013, there were at least 60,000 young children who were admitted in ERs after accidentally taking medicines they found on the floor, in cabinets, purses or diaper bags. This report also insisted that pill boxes are extremely dangerous. Statistics show that one in four kids are overdosing after getting their hands on pill organizers that were left out in the open such as counters or tables that aren't too high for children's reach, parenting.com reported.
An experiment in Good Morning America found that a toddler can open a pill box in just under 10 seconds, however, that's not as bad as what happened next. The young child was able to open a "child-resistant" medicine bottle using a bit of his tinkering skill. So, in order to avoid overdosing, ABC News' Dr. Richard Besser recommended asking for child-proof bottles for prescription drugs and emphasized that parents and caregivers should always be aware of the whereabouts of medicines in your homes, even those of only visiting relatives.
Kate Carr, president and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide, says prevention is all about supervision. "Whoever is watching over that child at that moment and that day has the responsibility of keeping all medicine out of the reach of children," she said.
