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.
Errors can happen with pharmacy’s automatic refill service
People who take medicines to treat chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure, asthma, or diabetes, need to fill their prescriptions regularly. Many pharmacies allow people to sign up for an automatic refill service so they don't run out of their medicines because they forget to call for refills. Once you sign up for this service, all your prescriptions for ongoing medicines are automatically refilled until there are no more refills left on the prescription. Each month, the pharmacy then notifies you when they are ready to be picked up.
An estrogen patch automatically releases the proper dose of medicine over a defined period of time, usually several days. However, women should know that sunbathing with a patch on may speed up how much medicine enters the body. For example, one woman experienced hot flashes after several days of sunbathing while wearing Climara, a once-a-week estrogen (estradiol) patch.
As approval of medical marijuana spreads state by state, labeling problems have led to errors
Today, 33 states plus the District of Columbia (Washington, DC) have legalized medical marijuana (and 11 states plus DC have legalized recreational use of marijuana). Medical marijuana is different than the street product. With medical marijuana, growers must confirm the products’ contents, so this information can be passed on to dispensaries and patients. However, each state has its own regulations for medical marijuana. This has resulted in a wide variety of medical marijuana products and safety concerns, particularly with the labeling of these products.
A doctor prescribed Donnatal (hyoscyamine, atropine, scopolamine, and phenobarbital) for a man who was allergic to one of its ingredients, phenobarbital. Donnatal is used to relax the muscles in the bladder and intestines and to reduce stomach acid. The community pharmacy’s computer system issued a warning about the allergy, but the pharmacist missed seeing the message while entering the prescription into the computer. The doctor also overlooked the allergy even though it was documented in the patient’s chart. The error was discovered by the man while reading the pharmacy provided consumer medication information leaflet, which listed phenobarbital as one of the ingredients. The man did not take the Donnatal.