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Home Safety Practices for Prevention of Poisoning in Young Children
Table 1. Number of deaths in government hospital due to poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances.
Age years 1999
2000 2001
2002 1
1
1-4
1 3
2
5-11
1 1
Table 2. Number of admissions in government hospital in Malaysia due to poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances.
Age years 1999
2000 2001
2002 1
101 96
104 67
1-4
446 481
466 459
5-11
132 137
163 130
The above local statistics are comparable with international data such that the common age group involved in accidental poisoning is 1-4 years old. The local statistics available
are only from those cases of accidental poisoning admitted to hospital and we are unable to capture data on children who seek treatment from health clinics and private clinic and
hospital. So the actual number of cases of accidental poisoning is most likely to be 100 times the numbers projected in the table above.
Table 3. Number of admissions in government hospitals in Perak due to poisoning by drugs, medicaments and biological substances for those in the 1-4 years old age group.
Year Number of poisoning cases
2003
66
2004
72
2005
nil
2006
37
2007
65 Based on the 1-4 years old population size in Perak of 171 853, the incidence of accidental
poisoning in this age group in Perak is about 3 in keeping with international data for developing countries 5.
1.2 Problem Analysis
Accidental poisoning rates in children aged 1-4 years old has not reduced over the years because of the absence of an intervention program which include:
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Home Safety Practices for Prevention of Poisoning in Young Children
1. Educational program for parents
2. No audit of home poison safety practices to determine number of safe
households 3.
No CRCs or child home safety device in use regularly.
Figure 1: Bubble chart of problem analysis
Figure 1. Bubble chart of problem analysis
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Home Safety Practices for Prevention of Poisoning in Young Children
2.0 OBJECTIVES
2.1 General Objective
To evaluate and improve home poison safety practices to prevent poisoning in homes with children aged 1-4 years in the Kinta and Manjung districts.
2.2 Specific Objectives
1. To assess the home safety practices for poisons in homes with young children
with respect to: a.
Knowledge of caregivers on safe practices. b.
Safe storage of medications and household products. c.
Safe disposal of poisons. 2.
To develop an intervention programme to improve poison safety measures at home by:
a. Immediate audit feedback and recommendations to caregivers.
b. Education of caregivers.
c. A home safety device for safe medication and household product
storage. 3.
To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention programme for poison safety in:
a. Improving knowledge of caregivers on safe practices.
b. Improving safe storage of medications and household products.
c. Improving safe disposal of medications and household products.
d. The value of a home safety device for safe medication and household
product storage. 4.
To make recommendation on the use of the intervention package to improve home poison safety practices for poisons in homes with young children in
Malaysian communities.
3.0 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Overview of Research Design
A non-controlled community trial was conducted in the Kinta and Manjung Districts in Perak State evaluating and improving home poison safety practices to prevent
poisoning. The researchers intervened using an audit checklist and give immediate feedback to caregivers, provide an educational pamphlet and a home safety device
product.
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Home Safety Practices for Prevention of Poisoning in Young Children
Phase 0: Validation of Home Safety Device
In order to ensure that the home safety device used in this study works effectively, the researchers performed a sub-study to test the efficacy of two different children
home safety devices prior to its implementation in the study. The most efficacious device was then chosen.
In this sub-study, 100 children and 100 adult parentscaregivers accompanying the child to attend the MOH health clinics were recruited to test the home safety devices.
Parentscaregivers accompanying a child aged between 12 to 60 months to a MOH clinic were approached about the study and a written consent was obtained if he
or she agreed to be involved. 100 children and 100 of their parentscaregivers were asked to test on Device A and Device B.
The inclusion criteria for the children recruited for the study were: i
Seeking treatment at MOH health clinic. ii
Aged 12-60 months. The exclusion criteria for the children recruited for the study was:
i Suffering from any physical or mental disabilities.
The inclusion criteria for the adults recruited for the study were: i
Parentcaregiver for the child recruited for the study. ii
Ability to communicate in English or Malay. The exclusion criteria for the adults recruited for the study were:
i Suffering from any physical or mental disabilities.
There were three activities in the study: i
The first activity involved the child operating Device A or Device B without guidance. The child was given 5 minutes to operate the device. The method
used by the children to successfully operate the device was documented.
ii The second activity phase involved the child operating Device A or Device B
without guidance, following a demonstration by a researcher. The child was given 5 minutes to operate the device. The method used by the children to
successfully operate the device was documented.
iii The third activity involved the accompanying parentcaregiver operating
Device A or Device B without guidance, following a demonstration by a researcher. The adult were given 5 minutes to operate the device.
Table 4 describes the criteria to determine the efficacy of the home safety device. The results were analysed to decide on the most efficacious device to be utilized
in the study.
