Narcan pens for kids to use on parents?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

You might have seen this latest news about a 7 yr old youngster who told the bus monitor that her parents wouldn't wake up for 2 days and were "changing color"

Parents Found Dead After Child Tells School She Couldn't Wake Them Up - ABC News

If you watch the video you'll see someone advocating that kids be taught to use a Narcan pen on their parents.

Excuse me? Shouldn't kids be put into a safer environment when healthcare workers suspect heroin use by parents? We now expect a 7 yr old, who is probably already caring for the 3 younger siblings in this case, to monitor the parents for excessive sleepiness and not breathing enoughness. Are the kiddos supposed to do hourly rounds too?

Such a sad story. Local to me too.

No.

If someone is able to recognize the parents are addicts, then they should not be taking care of the kids. Get them out.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
Ridiculous. That's putting way too much responsibility on a child ...and possibly lifelong guilt when they fail to save the parent that they've been trained to monitor and intervene for.

This is exactly what I was thinking. Children tend to assign blame to themselves for things anyway: his parents divorced because he was a bad boy. Her mommy had a miscarriage because she didn't want to share her toys with a new sibling. What the heck does a child say to himself when he couldn't save his parent? Even if there was literally nothing the child could have done...say the parent OD'ed at 0200 and died while the child was asleep, or what if the cause of death was not so much respiratory depression but an aspiration event -- which Narcan will not reverse? What would that do to a small child?

Also, I get the system is not perfect, and children in unsafe situations do fall through the cracks. Wouldn't dispensing Narcan with the intent for a child to use in an emergency, be acknowledging that authorities know full well the child should not be left in that environment??

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
Put the kids in what "safer environment"? Foster care? The foster care system is already swamped and plenty of kids are getting abused and/or "lost" in the foster care system now. Group homes? Where?

I don't think anyone is naive enough to think foster care or group homes are the perfect solution. However this type of situation where a child is alone with a dead parent is a clear and present danger to that child. S/he is alone with no adult protection. What if there was a house fire, or a natural disaster, or even the little one decided to boil water for mac'n'cheese? Leaving them in that sitatuation with some Narcan is no solution either.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

And has anyone noticed how people generally react after the Narcan takes effect? They're generally not saying "Thank you for saving my life!" I've seen people get irate. ​That doesn't sound safe for a 7 yr old either.

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NOPE.

And if it doesn't "work" or the kid does it wrong, then what? The KID is responsible? And has to carry that around?

Give me a break.

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It's really sad that we have to have this conversation. Children should be taught to call 911 when something is wrong with mommy or daddy. If they won't wake up, call 911. My daughter is 6, she knows where daddy's epi-pen is and she knows how to use it; she is such a nurse's kid. But I feel like teaching a child to give an epi-pen is such a far cry from teaching them to administer narcan. She knows that when daddy says "I need my epi-pen" she would get and either hand it to him or use it for him, but trying to teach a child to give narcan is whole other thing. I don't know the answer, and maybe my feelings on it are biased from all of the pictures and stories circulating out there about drug overdoses and children being found in those situations.

The situation has become dire. It's sadly, unavoidable at this point. Do we arm children with this potentially life saving medication and all of the burden, stress, and undue responsibility that comes with it? I've seen the violent reaction that can sometimes occur after administration, I've seen it not work at all, I've seen the crazy vomiting and subsequent aspiration that can happen. Most of the children living with addicts have seen more than we'd like to admit and maybe having tried to intervene would be a good thing. But narcan isn't a one time, works every time kind of fix. Then comes the problem of distribution- how do we get it to the people who really need it? Is it included in every narcotic RX filled? Given out at methadone clinics? All of it is messy and unpleasant, but since this is the reality, I'm glad that we(as a country) are finally talking about it. This encompasses so many areas that are broken; foster care, mental health, addiction resources. All of things need addressed before any change will happen. Narcan may remove the high, but nothing is fixing the addiction.

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Specializes in ER.

Oh, here's a surprise! :sarcastic: The cost of narcan products has steeply risen. One company has a monopoly and is drastically raising prices with the increased demand. Nothing like getting public health officials to push for narcan pens on little kids to boost sales! :banghead:

I knew someone must be profiting.

Price Soars For Key Weapon Against Heroin Overdoses : Shots - Health News : NPR

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Oh, here's a surprise! :sarcastic: The cost of narcan products has steeply risen. One company has a monopoly and is drastically raising prices with the increased demand. Nothing like getting public health officials to push for narcan pens on little kids to boost sales! :banghead:

I knew someone must be profiting.

Price Soars For Key Weapon Against Heroin Overdoses : Shots - Health News : NPR

It's all going to Hell in a Handbasket.

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My heart breaks for those kids. I too grew up in a pretty messed up home. I just can't fathom being in the same house as dead parents. I guess luckily for the 9 month old, the older siblings were probably already used to proving their care so hopefully that baby was fed and changed during those 2 days.

Stories like this just upset me so much. I feel sick to my stomach for those kids, and absolutely furious with those parents. I know addiction is a *****, but when you have kids you need to get it together. If not, stop having kids and give them to someone who can care for them. That may sound judgmental, but being I grew up in the kind of environment where anything and everything was ok, I'm going to speak out.

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I think we'd just end up with adults getting poked by Narcan pens that are trying to sleep. Honestly, how would a child have the assessment skills to know whether their parents are OD'ing or asleep? I know it should be a simple task for adults to grasp, but that is a crap-ton of responsibility we'd be expecting from just mere children.

Whatever happened to the times when kids could be kids? SO sad nowadays.

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My heart breaks for those kids. I too grew up in a pretty messed up home. I just can't fathom being in the same house as dead parents. I guess luckily for the 9 month old, the older siblings were probably already used to proving their care so hopefully that baby was fed and changed during those 2 days.

Stories like this just upset me so much. I feel sick to my stomach for those kids, and absolutely furious with those parents. I know addiction is a *****, but when you have kids you need to get it together. If not, stop having kids and give them to someone who can care for them. That may sound judgmental, but being I grew up in the kind of environment where anything and everything was ok, I'm going to speak out.

Some situations deserve to be judged harshly.

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I should add that most kids in these situations already have enough on their plates. They are their own care takers. If the are the oldest sibling they are also responsible for their younger siblings as well. They often are the caretakers of their parents as well, which is so beyond wrong. There is no way kids should be taught this. The guilt that could come of a bad ending could destroy them more than the crap they have already been dealing with.

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