To think this is a bit irresponsible?

[creampie]

I've just watched call the midwife on catch up. Several times the doctor/midwives gave the advice to give aspirin to small children with temperatures. I realise this was probably correct advice at the time the show is set, but we now know it can cause Reye's syndrome if given to young children. I was waiting for some sort of disclaimer at the end of the programme, but there wasn't anything. AIBU to think this is a bit irresponsible? I know most people don't get their medical advice from BBC tv, but surely they should have mentioned something about current medical advice?! It's really dangerous.

Its a fictional comedy drama based very much in the past. Anyone who is idiotic enough to use the medical advice seen on it is going to be idiotic anyway.

I see your point :)

I just think it may add to the confusion between paracetamol and aspirin, which many of my patients already think are interchangeable

There was (or will be) an episode on Thalidomide too, op... It's set in the fifties; it comes under the heading of period drama.

I agree with Cherry. If you're going to blindly copy what you see on the television without undertaking any further research - and if you're going to do that when further research is mere seconds away online - then you're surely some kind of half-headed shitwit who shouldn't be in charge of a Barbie doll never mind a real live baby. YABU.

Historical dramas show lots of things that are, well, historical and not done nowadays. I don't recall there being warnings on those

yet Masterchef always warns us about sustainable fish, even when no seafood has been used in the episode

Masterchef would be better off warning us about Gregg Fucking Wallace and the very real possibility of him leading to raised blood pressure and boiling piss!

YANBU. They should have got around it by handing over medicine and saying give this to DC for their temperature. Then viewers wouldn't it was aspirin or whatever. I would have assumed it was legitimate advice. I must be an idiot!

What? You mean the doctor won't offer my husband a ciggie in the waiting room whilst I give birth?

He'll be gutted.

It's just a crappy telly show

Lol at you being so into it!

Yes, but you can't buy thalidomide over the counter. Most people won't have it in the house.

I know, I'm probably over thinking it. I just think it gets into the subconscious, people won't remember where they heard the advice, they'll just remember it's ok to give aspirin to children. I cannot stress how dangerous this actually is!

I must admit I've never even given it a thought.

My kids are ill I automatically think calpol or neurofen not aspirin.

But I can see where you are coming from. A parent with an ill child, run out of medicine may think well it was OK in the 60's, a bit of aspirin won't hurt. Especially if it's all they have got

Yanbu, actually. The older I get, the more horrified I am by how many people don't consider, far less check, the source or accuracy of information. 'Well, I saw it on TV', even in a self-evidently fictional, period show, wouldn't surprise me.

I get twitchy when I see CPR being done ineffectually on screen. I know that practices eg ratios get revised from time but bendy elbows floppy arms and a closed airway isn't going to help anyone - tilt the head back and keep your arms straight!

Reye's syndrome is vanishingly rare. Most children given aspirin would be absolutely fine. Some children are prescribed aspirin these days for heart problems e.g. after Kawasaki's disease.

Agree however, a comment at the end wouldn't have hurt anyone...

They also prescribed Thalidomide for morning sickness ...

Oh Tyneteas - you're y kindred spirit... My family have got use to memos img about the awful CPR techniques shown in TV shows - drives me mad!

Creamteas - as a former Paeds ED nurse, recognise your concerns, but most under 15yo's are so awful at taking tablets, pretty sure many would settle for ibuprofen having not found aspirin syrup!

And the doctor in it smokes fags like they are going out of fashion.
That aspirin part was hardly memorable. Im sure no one bat an eyelid.
Its an old fashioned drama with old fashioned ways. Forget it!

It is a historical drama, so should be historically accurate. Aspirin was considered safe for children in those days and the connection to Reye's Syndrome was not made until much later. I remember it being on the news, and Aspirin products made for young children were soon withdrawn from sale.

There used to be a product called Junior Aspirin if I remember rightly. In the sixties and severities it was the Calpol of its day.

I take the point that there could perhaps be some sort of warning or disclaimer at the end, if anyone bothers to read those.

I don't think anyone's disputing it was historically accurate - what the OP was worried about was whether viewers would have absorbed the 'give aspirin to babies' message without having the wherewithal to remember that it was in a period drama, rather than current medical advice.

I don't think you're being that unreasonable considering some of the warnings you see on the most unlikely of products.

The general public is stupid.

*are 😳😂

Don't be ridiculous

I think you do have a reasonable concern though. But rather than discuss it here, why don't you write to the tv station/programme makers and tell them?

I "absorbed" a lot of stuff from watching Angels when I was a child, including that appendicitis pain wasn't always where you expected it to be - so when my brother got appendicitis, I said to my parents that they should get someone else in to see him because the first doc had said it couldn't possibly be appendicitis, as the pain was in the "wrong place". He narrowly averted peritonitis and was in hospital for 2 weeks from his "couldn't possibly be appendicitis"

Surely it's not very easy to give asprin to little ones as it doesn't come in a syrup though, anyone that was looking for it would end up get calpol or liquid ibuprofen anyway.

I also think that they would see it on the packet when they checked the dose but then again if they were daft enough to take medical advice off a period drama then there's no guarantee they would check the dosage anyway.