Case 3

12-month-old Sam is being looked after by his grandmother. She had left her handbag on the floor in the kitchen and when she returns to the room after leaving for 5 minutes she finds Sam with her empty pill pot into which she had placed her medications for the day. Sam has spilt a number of tablets on the floor but his grandmother is unable to account for two of them.

If which of the following were known to have been in that pill pot would it make you consider this a potentially life-threatening ingestion?

What are the principles of good supportive care?

After seeing and assessing Sam the triage nurse informs you that she recognises Sam’s grandmother and that his older brother was seen in the ED with a similar presentation just 2 weeks ago. What other information is now required?