I had a great question during our naloxone training the other day that I couldn't answer.
What if a child or toddler ingested opiates and overdosed. Would we continue with the standard 0.4ml injection, or should it be lower?
Any feedback would be appreciated, although I hope this scenario doesn't come to pass.
Thanks all.
Great responses, thanks all. Shared with our folks, thank you.
Great question Keith!
it is safe to administer naloxone to children especially the fact that children who accidentally ingest opioids are not physically dependent, therefore, there is no risk of precipitated withdrawal. The caution with naloxone dosing for adults is mainly the risk of precipitated withdrawal.
The recommended dose of naloxone is 0.1mg/kg for infants to 5 years old or 20 kg body weight. If above this, then can give up to 2mg. Therefore, the adult dose of 0.4mg is a safe dose for children. For more information please see the following link from Towards the Heart:
https://towardtheheart.com/assets/uploads/1538067912t9jBXf89xUmtwYbYYnaHEEDLb4BY0HzKQguLi6E.pdf
Hi Keith, I have some clinical advice on its way to you from our Clinical Lead Nancy who will post on the forum shortly.
Also for now this information has also been shared with me - RACE Line at SPH is staffed by addiction medicine specialists http://www.raceconnect.ca/
Thank you Keith for bringing this question to the forum. I will seek clinical advice from our team and our nurse educators and ensure they are able to share this information on the forum here to share with everyone.