Pediatric Gastrointestinal Decontamination

Late in your evening shift in the emergency department (ED), you receive a call from your local EMS unit. They are on the way to the ED with a 3-year-old male. About an hour ago, he came to his mother complaining of nausea and abdominal pain. When questioned, he admitted to playing with medication bottles in the upstairs bathroom. His mother found several open bottles and pills scattered about the bathroom. She states that “many” pills were missing from several of the bottles. The medications included prenatal vitamins, acetaminophen, a diuretic, a beta-blocker, and 2 other medications in unlabeled bottles that were left in the home by the boy's grandmother. The boy cannot say when he took the pills, but the mother states that he had been playing alone upstairs for about an hour prior to complaining of abdominal pain. The boy is awake and alert with stable vital signs. Your charge nurse pulls a 40 French orogastric tube from the supply room and asks, “Should we pump his stomach?”