Day in the life of a Poison Center: 5pm-6pm

After playing basketball, an 18 year old male took two large swigs from a Gatorade bottle that he found in his friend’s Jeep. Turns out it was windshield wiper fluid the friend had transferred to the smaller bottle to make it more portable.
While crawling in the kitchen, a 10 month old bit into a Laundry Pod.
ER called because they have a patient who has ingested blood; he was in the ER agitated and having severe hallucinations after recreational drug use. A phlebotomist came in to draw the patient’s blood, and while she was distracted, the patient drank several tubes of blood from other patients.
A man called to find out where he should dispose of old prescription medications that belonged to his mother, who recently passed away.
A 16 month old got into Tussionex suspension belonging to his uncle. He drank an unknown quantity from the 4 ounce bottle.
A 2 year old was playing in a suitcase and ingested a mouthful of sunscreen that had been inside.
An ER called because they have a 26 year old patient who inadvertently ingested potassium hydroxide containing cleaning fluid at his workplace; it was placed in a cup in the lunch room.
Grandmother mixed rat poison into the jar of peanut butter. She spread the mixture on some crackers and set them on the counter. While she made a few trips to distribute them to other parts of the house, her 13 year old grandson came into kitchen and thought the snack was made for him.
A 26 year old sprayed his couch for fleas, forgot about it, and slept on it several hours later.
A 15 year old girl got into a fight with her mother and took an entire bottle of Acetaminophen 500mg tablets.
A 5 year old child was accidentally given two seasonal flu vaccines in the same day.
A toddler got into her mother’s medication and ingested a maximum of 7 levothyroxine 50mcg tablets.
A 30 year old female called complaining of headache and diarrhea. She realized she had been taking 60mg of Prozac daily for the last week instead of the 30mg she should be taking.
A woman called who has a baseline low heart rate and took 2 of her husband’s heart medication tablets by mistake.

***IPC specialists also made 9 calls to homes and hospitals to follow up on the clinical course of patients we had been previously consulted on.

This is just one hour, read the rest of the cases from the 24 hour day (links below). Prevention is priceless! Click here for free online poison prevention education course and/or educational materials.

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 12am-7am

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 7am-8am

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 8am-9am

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 9am-10am

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 10am-11am

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 11am-12pm

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 12pm-1pm

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 1-2pm

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 2pm-3pm

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 3pm-4pm

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 4pm-5pm

Day in the life of a Poison Center: 5pm-6pm