2023-05-06 17:01:41
Pills left in plain sight or a medicine mistaken for another and administered incorrectly. It is often children who pay the price, who can end up in hospital due to intoxication from accidental drug intake. According to the pediatrician Italo Farnetani, full professor at the Ludes University, who elaborated the data with a few years’ monitoring of such accidents, “in two out of three cases (65% of the total) the minors had ingested drugs on their own initiative, due to the inattention, disorder and carelessness of adults, but one in three had been the victim of incorrect administration of medicines by adults such as parents, grandparents, babysitters”.
“In 23% of cases, in fact – explains Farnetani to time.news Salute – one drug was administered by mistake instead of another because the bottles containing the medicines of the children were found together with those of the adults. In 12%, instead, the cause of the poisoning was an excessive dosage. In the latter cases, grandparents are often responsible, because they do not wear presbyopic glasses”.
On the basis of these surveys, an expression of errors and carelessness by adults, Farnetani, who today gave a report on this topic at the training course on “The functions of leadership and top administration (Leadership and Management)” organized in Rome by Volunteer military corps of the Italian Red Cross, has developed a handbook both to prevent involuntary drug intake and poisoning, and to be sure, above all, that the drug is administered in the right way.
1) It is also advisable, precisely to avoid exchanging the medicines of adults and children, to keep them in separate cabinets. Even more prudent would be to create small containers, one per person, large or small, each with a different color and shape, inside which to put the medicines that are being used.
2) Medicines that are kept as a spare must be stored in places that children cannot reach, therefore high up, preferably protected by a door, possibly locked. Equally if the treatment is being carried out, the medicines must be stored in places where children cannot take them and never forgotten on tables or low furniture.
3) If, as often happens during the winter, two little brothers have to follow two different treatments, the medicines should be suitably separated.
4) When having the child visit the doctor, the parents must make him aware of their organizational needs, because many drugs, such as antibiotics, can be administered only once, but others require two or three administrations: choosing according to the needs of the family , it will be avoided to have the drug administered by inexperienced people.
5) It is always useful to write the dosage to be administered on the medicine box, preferably with a felt-tip pen, in order to clearly read the numbers.
6) If people who are farsighted or in any case have to use glasses are administering the medicines, they should remember to wear them to avoid misreading the dosages or counting the drops to be administered incorrectly, or seeing the notches on the measuring cup incorrectly .
7) To be sure of the dosage it is always preferable to write it in a personal note under the doctor’s dictation.
8) It is advisable for the doctor to ask the patient to repeat the dosage and the methods of administration verbally to verify that the message has been received well.
9) When calling the doctor, remember to always tell him the weight of the child and keep pen and paper handy to write down the dosage and repeat it at the end of the call.
10) Lastly, it is forbidden to give medicines on one’s own initiative. Only those prescribed by the doctor should be used, which will be administered for the established period. The administration on the initiative of the parents will never be restarted – says Farnetani.
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