Parents may think they're smart about where they store medicines, but their kids are smarter. Nearly 60,000 young children are rushed to the hospital every year after getting into medicines not meant for them, according to a new report from Safe Kids Worldwide.
The report finds little connection between what parents know about storing medicines safely and what they actually do. Nine out of 10 parents know that medicines should be stored up and away out of reach and sight, but 7 out of 10 of them admit not doing that. They leave medicines out on kitchen counters, sinks and sofas, believing babies and toddlers(学步者)aren't tall enough or strong enough to reach them. Unfortunately, they probably can. Children as young as a month have ended up in an emergency department because they'd been poisoned by getting into a medicine that was left within reach.
Most poisonings related to medicines—particularly among babies and toddlers—occur within their home. Kids develop rapidly and they want to explore their environment. At certain ages they have a lot of hand-to-mouth activity, and so it's very common for them to explore their environment and then try to taste what they find.
The new Safe Kids worldwide report includes a survey of 2,000 parents with children under age 6. While the number of children visiting an emergency department for accidental poisonings had declined since the 2010 maximum, the decline has slowed in recent years.
Prescription and over-the-counter medicines cause the most severe poisonings, but vitamins and supplements(补充品)can also cause problems. There are steps families can take to lower the risk for an accidental medicine poisoning.
