Personal Health

Many grandparents forget to store medicines safely

For grandma and grandpa it is a great pleasure to spend time with her grandchildren. What, according to a new survey, however, too little is thought of that: medications must be in child-proof places kept in order to minimize the risk of poisoning.

More than 80 per cent of grandparents say they store their medications as usual, when the grandchildren come to your home. In the opposite case, 72 percent of grandparents to have medication with you when you visit your grandchildren.

According to the survey, 84 percent of the older adults did not change at these Visits, your habits for the storage of their medicines. Include the usual storage places, cabinets (61 percent), countertops, and tables (18 per cent), purses or pockets (7 per cent). Only five percent of the grandparents reported that their medications routinely in a locked Cabinet to be kept.

When grandparents visit their grandchildren, increasing the risk for the Small even more: Nearly three-quarters of the grandparents reported that they keep your drugs in your pocket, and seven percent can you lie on a table. Only seven per cent in a locked Cabinet.

Almost 40 percent of the children who were treated for drug intoxication in emergency departments, had taken medicines of their grandparents. "Prescription drugs and even over-the-counter medications and supplements can harm children and young people, if you put them in the handbag of the grandmother or on the kitchen table of the Opas finden", Dr. Preeti Malani from the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, who led the survey said. The expert advises medication in a safe place, independent-accessible from the age of the grandchild: Also a Teenager, one should keep in the back of your head, because you could need, for example, pain and / or sedative abuse.

For the storage of medications, if possible, children should be used to secure the container. It is also important to have the emergency number handy and explain to the children that you need to keep the drugs away.

Important information and telephone numbers of Poison centres is available online at aponet.de.

ZOU