Hello. I'm Vanessa. I'm one of the Registered Nurses in the Emergency
Department. Can you tell me a bit more about what happened today? Oh look, it was
awful! Jenny was given an accidental overdose of paracetamol!
I had already given her some of the liquid paracetamol at lunchtime.. my
husband was looking after her in the afternoon and I don't know why he did
it but maybe he just didn't think.. He gave her two paracetamol tablets - an
adult dose. I see. So your daughter had the second dose earlier this evening...
Is that right? Yes. I feel terrible. We should have been more careful. I can
understand that you must be very worried about your daughter...
but it was an accident and you did the right thing bringing your daughter in as
quickly as you did.The sooner we start the treatment the better. Can you do
something now? You've got to help her! Can you get the doctor right away?
She might have liver damage or ...I don't know, something else! I know it's very
upsetting for you but we have do an assessment of your daughter before she
can be treated. Is it all right if I ask you a few questions about the overdose?
Oh yes, sorry. What do you need to know? The first thing I need to know is how
much paracetamol your daughter took? Oh, I'm not sure. I know I gave her 200
milligrams in the liquid medicine I usually give her. She usually has 5 mils.
My husband gave her two of the tablets we take. I don't know what the dose is. If
your husband gave her two tablets- that would be 1,000 milligrams. Each tablet is
500 milligrams. OK, with the liquid medicine you gave her, that would be 1.2
grams. Oh, I don't know. I just know it's too
much. Can't you find out how much paracetamol is still in her system? Yes,
we can do that. I know it's difficult for you at the moment but we need to wait a
little while longer before we do a blood test.
We can't do that test until four hours after the overdose.Ttry not to worry
about your daughter -we'll keep an eye on her until she has the blood test. If she
needs it, we will be able to put up a drip and give her a drug which will
counteract the paracetamol dose. Can you tell me
what time your husband gave her the tablets? Oh it must have been 2 o'clock.
She was supposed to have some more liquid then. That's two hours ago. Does
that mean you can't do that blood test for another two hours? That's right.
As I said, we'll keep checking your daughter until then. There's one more
question I need to ask, if that's OK. Yes, sure. How much does your daughter weigh?
You want to know how much she weighs? She weighs about fifteen kilos I think. I
weighed her a couple of weeks ago. Why is it important? We need to know her weight to
work out how serious the overdose is. If the amount of paracetamol is more than
200 milligrams per kilogram of her body weight we'll start a drip. We also need
to know her weight to work out the amount of medication to put in the drip
if your daughter needs it. I see. Well, I think she's 15 kilos but I'm not sure.
What if she's not 15 kilos? Won't that be dangerous? It's all right - I'll weigh your
daughter in a minute to make sure we have her correct weight. I'm sorry - I'm just
so worried about her. I don't want her to have liver damage. It's OK, it must be
very difficult for you but you came in as soon as possible. You did the right
thing and the overdose was an accident. Thanks. That makes me feel better. What's
going to happen now? The doctor will come and examine Jenny and she'll have a
blood test in an hour or so. We can get the results very quickly so the doctor
can decide whether she needs a drip or not. We'll be checking Jenny's blood
pressure and pulse every half-hour until then. I see. What can I do to prevent it
ever happening again? I never ever want Jenny to go through this again. I'll go
and get a poison awareness leaflet for you - it has some advice about keeping
medication safe and out of the reach of children. Thank you. That would be really
helpful.