When it concerns children and the safe use of medication, no detail is too small. It should be no surprise that the companies who are leading the way in engineering safe medicinal care are the same companies who focus on quality, safety, innovation, and customization capabilities and technology. Plastic packaging manufacturers have long been in the forefront of designing plastic bottles and jars and plastic closures, as well as measuring devices to ensure proper dosage.
Did you realize that 82% of American adults take at least one medication a day? Another 29% take five or more medications. It is comforting to know that research that may have initially been conducted to make dispensing medicine safely and accurately to children, now benefits anyone who has medication in the home. Daily pill minder devices, for example, can help young and old alike keep track of the frequency of dosages. In the same way that administering medication to children needs to be safeguarded, dispensing medicine to some older adults also deserves special consideration.
Unfortunately, there are more than 1,100 emergency calls every day about a young child getting into medicine or taking too much medicine by accident. Plastic packaging manufacturers and their development of child-resistant containers can help reduce these numbers. In fact, when required under the 1970 Poison Prevention Packaging Act, safer packaging for medicine bottles has led to a steep decline in childhood deaths caused by poisoning — down from 216 in 1972 to 34 in 2008, an 82% decline.
When required by law to make at-home medications safer, plastic container manufacturing company engineers developed products that not only met safety standards, but continued to investigate other areas where the plastic packaging manufacturers industry could also make advances. Results of their research include marked measuring cups, syringes and adapters.
Obviously, safe medicine practices at home need to include more than the approved containers that medicines are packaged in. For any medicine, it is always good practice to check it three times. The first time you should check the outside packaging for such things as cuts, slices, or tears. the second check, once you’re at home, includes inspecting the label on the inside package to be sure you have the right medicine and that the lid and seal are not broken. The third and final check includes a check of the color, shape, size, and smell of the medicine. did you realize that pharmacy labels include this information as an additional safe guard?
No extra step is too much when it comes to the safe handling of medication for children and adults alike.