“Wake up! Wake up!” Tears rolling down her face, a mother is frantically shaking her child, but 2-year-old JC is not waking up. This mother, who has chronic pain, looks around and sees her opened prescribed pain medication bottle by her son’s side.
A study published in the Journal of Pediatrics took data of fatal poisoning-related deaths of children 5 years and younger from 40 states during the period from 2005-2018. This 14-year period showed a steady increase of accidental opioid related deaths. Opioids accounted for 24% of these deaths in 2005 compared with 52.2% in 2018. Most of these fatalities took place in what we would consider a child’s safe place, their home.
As a nurse practitioner who specializes in caring for adults with sickle cell disease, pain management is a major component where I prescribe opioids on a regular basis to treat chronic pain. Each time I write an opioid prescription, I do fear that children of my patients could unintentionally obtain their opioids. Children are curious which is a normal part of their growth and development. Young children discover the world by exploring, crawling, picking up things from the floor and putting it into their mouths. This is why education on proper storage and disposal of opioids is integral in my practice.
Some patients are prescribed opioids where they are scheduled to take it every three hours as needed for pain. They are instructed to store their opioids in the original container with the safety cap in place high and away out of the child’s reach each time they take their medication. Although convenient, using a pill organizer to store their opioids is an absolute “NO” because pill organizers are easily accessible to children. A pretty color pill will look like candy to a child. Patients are instructed not to have their children watch them take their opioids because a tiny pill could accidentally fall on the floor where a child can easily pick it up. By observing their parent take their opioids, children love to copy, potentially resulting in a “this is what mommy takes, let me try it” circumstance.
Expired and unused opioids should be disposed of immediately. Disposal includes drug take-back options, mail-back options, or safe opioid disposal in the home. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) conducts take-back days for safe and convenient ways to dispose of unused opioids. Some opioids could be flushed down the toilet if it’s on the opioid flush list. We encourage asking their local pharmacies for options regarding opioid disposal.
It is the responsibility of lawmakers to be agents of change. It is necessary that JC be the light that guides lawmakers away from the darkness of accidental overdose that threatens the bright futures of America’s youth. State government must aggressively promote drug-takeback initiatives, advertise safe disposal of opioids, and provide accessible education to families about safe drug storage.
To protect the innocent, lawmakers must act as if children’s lives depend on their choices made today — because they do.
Joanna Cole is a Nurse Practitioner in the Adult Sickle Cell Program at Smilow Cancer Hospital. She is a candidate in the Doctor of Nursing Practice-Family Nurse Practitioner program at Sacred Heart University’s College of Nursing.
