Poison Prevention Awareness

By Terry Orr

National Poison Prevention Week is observed in the US the third week of March.  The goal of the week is to raise awareness of the risk of being poisoned by household products, medicines, pesticides, plants, bites and stings, food poisoning, and fumes.  Awareness being duly raised, it is hoped that this will prevent poisoning. (Source: Wikipedia) 

Safety Tips for You, Your Family, and Friends

Drugs and Medicines

• Only take prescription medications that are prescribed to you by a healthcare professional. Misusing or abusing prescription or over-the-counter medications is not a “safe” alternative to illicit substance abuse.
• Never take larger or more frequent doses of your medications, particularly prescription pain medications, to try to get faster or more powerful effects.
• Never share or sell your prescription drugs. Keep all prescription medicines (especially prescription painkillers, such as those containing methadone, hydrocodone, or oxycodone), over-the-counter medicines (including pain or fever relievers and cough and cold medicines), vitamins and herbals in a safe place that can only be reached by people who take or give them.
• Follow directions on the label when you give or take medicines. Read all warning labels. Some medicines cannot be taken safely when you take other medicines or drink alcohol.
• Turn on a light when you give or take medicines at night so that you know you have the correct amount of the right medicine.
• Keep medicines in their original bottles or containers.
• Monitor the use of medicines prescribed for children and teenagers, such as medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD.
• Dispose of unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs.
• Participate in National Drug Take Back days 

Household Chemicals and Carbon Monoxide

• Always read the label before using a product that may be poisonous.
• Keep chemical products in their original bottles or containers. Do not use food containers such as cups, bottles, or jars to store chemical products such as cleaning solutions or beauty products.
• Never mix household products together. For example, mixing bleach and ammonia can result in toxic gases.
• Wear protective clothing (gloves, long sleeves, long pants, socks, shoes) if you spray pesticides or other chemicals.
• Turn on the fan and open windows when using chemical products such as household cleaners.

Keep Young Children Safe from Poisoning

Be Prepared

• Put the poison help number, 1-800-222-1222, on or near every home telephone and save it on your cell phone. The line is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Be Smart about Storage

• Store all medicines and household products up and away and out of sight in a cabinet where a child cannot reach them.
• When you are taking or giving medicines or are using household products:

• Do not put your next dose on the counter or table where children can reach them—it only takes seconds for a child to get them.
• If you have to do something else while taking medicine, such as answer the phone, take any young children with you.
• Secure the child safety cap completely every time you use a medicine.
• After using them, do not leave medicines or household products out.  As soon as you are done with them,  put them away and out of sight in a cabinet where a child cannot reach them.
• Be aware of any legal or illegal drugs that guests may bring into your home. Ask guests to store drugs where children cannot find them.  Children can easily get into pillboxes, purses, backpacks, or coat pockets.

What To Do If A Poisoning Occurs

• Remain calm.
• Call 911 if you have a poison emergency and the victim has collapsed or is not breathing. If the victim is awake and alert, dial 1-800-222-1222. Try to have this information ready:

• the victim’s age and weight
• the container or bottle of the poison if available
• the time of the poison exposure
• the address where the poisoning occurred

• Stay on the phone and follow the instructions from the emergency operator or poison control center.

References and Links:

http://www.poisonprevention.org/poison.htm 

http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/what-can-you-do/national-poison-prevention-week/index.html 

http://www.safekids.org/safety-basics/safety-resources-by-risk-area/poison/household-poison-prevention-1.html 

[All images from Google] 

National Pharmacist Day - 2013

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By Nurse Diane

Yesterday I told you about hot toddy's…and the chant from Ole Miss, a major university here in Mississippi.  Well Ole Miss is known for more things besides football, and drinks.  It also has a superior medical school and pharmacy school.  I should know, my uncle, my father's brother, graduated from Ole Miss with a degree in Pharmacy.  Following graduation, he began a career with Upjohn, a drug manufacturing company, and he visited local doctors educating them about the new drugs that were currently on the market that would help their patients.

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Pharmacology, the study of medicines, is a very difficult field to practice.  When I was in nursing school, I had to complete a course in pharmacology.  Not only did we have to learn about the drug, we had to learn how it worked, what medications it worked with or against, what side effects it may have.  There are thousands of medications out there too!  Not only are there several medications, but there are also several different categories.  You have a group of drugs that work on pain, a group of meds for sleeping, antibiotics, allergies, the list is endless.

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Of course no one can be expected to learn all the medications, that is why there is a PDR, or physician's desk reference that lists all the medications and their properties.   However a pharmacist must be able to know about the different categories, and their actions and interactions with other medications.

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Pharmacists have a long and tired day on the job.  Several hours filling prescriptions, standing on their feet, and dealing with insurance companies and doctor's offices all day.  Rarely do they have time to interact with customers but when they can, they are knowledgeable about the medications they are dispensing.  Each medication has to be verified several times, when they remove the pill from the shelf, it has to be verified.  When they read the prescription, it must be verified again, when the amount is counted out, it must be verified again.  and when it placed in the bottle with the name of the patient, if must be verified again.  These checks make the possibility of an error decrease.  Pharmacists take extra precautions to ensure that the right person receives the right medication.

Today is National Pharmacist day, so if you happen to go to a drug store, don't forget to give a shout out to the pharmacist there, and let them know you appreciate their job.  And to my Uncle TD, Happy Pharmacist Day!!