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

A 2 year old ingested an unknown amount of moisturizing body butter.
A father called; when he went to check on his sleeping 11 month old son on his way to bed, he found that the baby had pulled off his diaper and eaten some of the absorbent diaper material inside.
An ER called about developmentally delayed 31 year old that has ingested a large number of nuts, bolts, nails and screws.
A 69 year old male inadvertently swallowed a Spiriva capsule instead of using it in his powder inhaler.
A caller who had recently been prescribed Vicodin for a back injury has heard a lot about it in the news. He was concerned about taking it because he does not want to become addicted or dependent. He wanted some more information on this.
A 78 year old man had his digoxin dose increased approximately 2 weeks prior. His family brought him to the ER because over the last week he had been feeling weak.
An ER nurse called about 24 year old patient. She had sent a text message to her friend telling her she had overdosed. EMS found patient unresponsive at her house. Unknown drug taken.
A 22 year old called because he misread the directions on his antibiotic medication; he took 3 tablets all at once instead of taking them three times throughout the day.
An ER called about 37 year old woman with symptoms of fever, twitching of her limbs and possible hallucinations. She had recently started taking some herbal supplements.
Caller was at a new neighbor’s house, where he drank part of a bottled juice drink that he got from the neighbor’s refrigerator and noticed 2 coffee filters in it. Was told by someone at the residence (after he drank it) that the coffee filters were used in the making of crystal meth and they were in the drink to give it an extra “kick”.
A 30 year old was prescribed warfarin after a recent surgery. He was supposed to take one 4mg tablet every day. The pharmacy inadvertently dispensed 8mg tablets. The patient took them for 8 days before realizing the error.
A 40 year old male was prescribed Vicodin tablets for a back injury. He mistakenly took 2 doses of acetaminophen along with 2 doses of Vicodin, because he did not realize that Vicodin contained acetaminophen and had concerns about taking too much acetaminophen.
A 52 year old woman ingested an unknown quantity of her own Ambien, lorazepam, Buspar, Zoloft and Abilify.
An ER called about an adult male who presented to them after kneeling in wet cement all day at his job. His knees and the surrounding area are red and blistered.
A caller takes several maintenance medications and wanted to know if it is okay that she take over-the-counter cough syrup.
A 17 year old female took 10 acetaminophen extra strength tablets to treat menstrual cramps over the course of one day. She realized that the maximum daily amount is 8 extra strength tablets. She is very concerned because of all the warnings on the package regarding liver injury.

***IPC specialists also made 8 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