Adolescent Medicine
Advocacy
Child Abuse & Neglect
Emergency Medicine
General Pediatrics
Injury Prevention
Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Public Health
Holly Hanson, MD, MS
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Cincinnati, Ohio, United States
James Dodington, MD (he/him/his)
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine
Yale University School of Medicine
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, United States
Session
Description: Drug overdose and poisoning are preventable causes of child mortality that continue to rise. Between 2019 and 2020 there was a 110% increase in unintentional poisonings in the United States. The Poison Prevention Packaging Act of 1970 mandated that nearly all Over-The-Counter and prescription medications be sold in child-resistant containers. This resulted in an initial decline in fatal pediatric poisoning deaths but that success has not been sustained over the past decade. While dosing errors in Over-The-Counter medications and exposure to household supplies continue to plague children, we have also embarked on a journey through new poisoning dangers. The opioid epidemic combined with the legalization of marijuana, manufacturing of edibles with creative marketing, and the resurgence of vaping products have posed new and unique challenges to keeping both young children and adolescents safe from unintentional and intentional ingestions. This session will feature a discussion with poisoning prevention experts and will provide a framework for a greater understanding of the epidemiology and a renewed approach to prevention.
1. Kevin Osterhoudt, MD: The current landscape of pediatric poisoning and a policy approach.
2. Chris Gaw, MD: Harm reduction interventions and a discussion on how the current opioid epidemic is impacting children.
3. TBD: What’s coming back and what do we need to anticipate in the future
Speaker: Christopher E. Gaw, MD, MPH, MBE (he/him/his) – Nationwide Children's Hospital
Speaker: Kevin C. Osterhoudt, MD, MS – Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Speaker: Michele M. Burns, MD, MPH (she/her/hers) – Boston Children's Hospital