Each day in the United States, approximately 100 young children are brought to hospital emergency rooms after they find and get into medicines that are left within their sight and reach.
Many medicines and supplements – including those in gummy form – look like candy (Figure 1), and it can be difficult for young children (and even adults) to tell the difference (Figure 2, see below). It is important to teach young children that medicine is not candy and that they should never take medicines on their own. Parents, grandparents, and other caregivers should always keep all medicines, vitamins, and other supplements(including those in gummy form) Up and Away and out of children’s sight and reach.
Here's what you can do: Here are some important tips to help parents, grandparents, and other caregivers keep young children safe:
Store medicines in a safe location that is too high for young children to see or reach.
Never leave medicines or supplements out on a kitchen counter or at a sick child’s bedside, even if you must give the medicine again in a few hours.
Always relock the safety cap on a medicine bottle. If it has a locking cap that turns, twist it until you can’t twist anymore or until you hear the “click.”
Tell children what medicine is and why you or another trusted caregiver must be the one to give it to them.
Never tell children medicine is candy, even if they don’t like to take their medicine.
Remind babysitters, houseguests, and visitors to keep purses, bags, or coats that have medicines in them up and away and out of sight when they’re in your home.
Call Poison Help at 800.222.1222 right away if you think your child might have gotten into a medicine, vitamin, or other supplement (including those in gummy form) even if you are not completely sure.
Brintellix and Brilinta mix-ups. An elderly woman required hospitalization when the pharmacy confused Brintellix and Brilinta and gave her the wrong medicine. Brintellix (vortioxetine) is a medicine used to treat depression. Brilinta (ticagrelor) is a medicine that helps to prevent clots in patients with certain heart diseases. The woman was given a prescription for Brilinta 90 mg to take twice a day. But the pharmacy staff misread the medicine label on the bottle that was selected from the shelf and filled the prescription with Brintellix 10 mg. The medicine bottles for Brilinta and Brintellix were on the same shelf, side-by-side, and the wrong bottle was picked up.
Pharmacy mix-ups occurring between two medications
Several mix-ups between the medications INVEGA (paliperidone), which is used to treat schizophrenia, and INTUNIV (guan FACINE ), used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have been reported to us.
A diabetic woman who couldn't see well accidentally put drops for her blood sugar monitoring device in her eyes. The bottle looked just like the eye drops she used for glaucoma. Both bottles had yellow caps and black lettering on the label. Another woman grabbed what she thought was a bottle of natural tears and put a few drops into each eye.