Transcript Childhood Injury Training Pack

Preventing Childhood
Injury
Your name, etc.
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High severity
Low numbers
Deaths
Lower severity
Our injury
burden
Emergency
admissions
High numbers
Attendances at
emergency
departments
Minor injuries treated at
Health Centres and GP
surgeries or at home
References
Injury pyramid: BMA (2001)
Injury Prevention
Very minor (often untreated) injuries
“Injuries do not occur by chance. They are largely
preventable, non-random events, and not “accidents”.
Certain groups of people with certain characteristics are
more likely to be injured. By studying how injuries
vary within a population, we can begin to gain an
understanding of the factors that lead to injury, and how the
risk of injury may be reduced”.
Injury Prevention, British Medical Association, 2001
‘Accidents’ waiting to happen
‘Accidents’ waiting to happen
‘Accidents’ waiting to happen
“....preventable...
not “accidents”
No cause?
Unexpected?
• Four-year-old dies after a tragic accident
“(Exodus Tyson’s) seven-year-old brother found her hanging from a cord
which was dangling from a treadmill in their home in Phoenix, Arizona”.
• Brothers meet tragic end on Snowdon
“They died after slipping and falling up to 300m from an accident blackspot
at a craggy area on the mountain's west side, Clogwyn Coch, at the
weekend”.
• Ealing boy dies after air rifle tragedy
He died in a “tragic accident”, after being left playing with other 10 year
olds and a loaded air rifle.
• Tragic accident as farmer crushed by sheepdog in tractor
“Harry Emslie, 67, left the border collie in the cab of a telescopic loader
with the engine still running - and the handbrake off”.
“Accident: an unforeseen event or one without an apparent cause”
Collins English Dictionary
Group activity

What caused these injuries?

Were they predictable?

What would have prevented them?
“...certain groups of people are more
likely to be injured....”
Children of poor families have more injuries
100
Injury
death rates
in children
0-15 by
social
class.
(BMA,
2001.)
80
60
40
20
1979-1983
1989-1992
0
1
2
3n
3m
4
5
Social Class 1 (Richer)........Social Class 5 (Poorer)
“...certain groups of people...”
Children...
• of single parents
• of alcohol and drug users
• living in rented accommodation
• of unemployed parents
.....are at higher risk of injury.
Mapping injury rate shows link to
deprivation in Bristol
Families and neighbourhoods
Injury risk is a factor of both
neighbourhood characteristics and
domestic circumstances
“.....understanding the factors that
lead to injury”
Group activity
Describe the family with the highest risk of
serious childhood injury.
List the factors you would expect to see in the
worst case scenario, considering the family,
their home, neighbourhood and the public
services they use.
“...reducing risk”.
Working with partners.
Services
•
Retailers
•
Daycare providers
•
Trading standards
•
Fire and Rescue Services
•
Housing providers
•
Health services
•
A multitude of other local authority services
Environment / neighbourhood
•
Road Safety
•
Economic opportunity
•
Safe play areas
Injury Prevention is a partnership activity
“...reducing risk”.
Working with families.
Improve Supervision/reduce social isolation
“Childproofing” - Home improvements
Raise Awareness of injury hazards
Routines and rules
(and reminders and repetition!)
Most frequent childhood
(under 5’s) injuries
• Falls
• Accidental poisoning
(Including eating small objects)
• Burns and scalds
Burns and scalds – Causes
1.
2.
3.
4.
Hot drinks
Hot food
Bathwater
Hair straighteners / irons
Hot water burns like fire
Burns and Scalds - Prevention
• Raise awareness
No. 1 cause = Hot drinks.
• Create routines and rules
Keep children and hot drinks apart.
• Childproofing
Use heat resistant bags for hair straighteners.
Most burns and scalds happen in the kitchen.
Use a playpen in kitchens, or keep children out.
Accidental Poisoning - Causes
1. Common painkillers and cold remedies are
the single biggest cause of serious childhood
poisoning.
2. Things not put away in their safe place.
3. Batteries, coins, small toys, pins, keys and
other small objects are left where small
children can reach them.
Accidental Poisoning - Prevention
Safe storage,
straight away
Accidental Poisoning - Prevention
• Tidy up.
• Lock away above head height. (Treat all pills,
medicines, liquid painkillers and cold remedies
like prescription medicines).
• Straight away. Health visitors in Nottingham
found poisoning happens when things are left
out because they are still in use, or “will be put
away later”).
Home Fire Safety
Avon Fire and Rescue
– Free Home Fire Safety Checks
Tel: 0117 9262061
Falls in under 5’s - Causes
• Stairs and steps
• Falling from furniture (sofas)
• Falling from beds when having nappies
changed
• Baby walkers
• Climbing routes
Falls in under 5’s - Prevention
• Childproofing
Use stair gates, break climbing
routes by moving furniture
• Rules
No (stair) climbing without a parent
• Supervision
Use the children’s centre parents
and toddler groups or friends - so
you can take a break!
Low number / high profile injuries
• Firework injuries – Follow the Firework
Code
• Blind cord strangulation – Keep cords,
chains, and tapes and similar out of the
reach of children.
• Drowning – Never leave babies alone in
the bathroom. Teach children to swim.
Group activity
What can we do to reduce injury?



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
What injury will you focus on?
Who will you target? Where?
How will you reach the target group?
What will you do?
How will you monitor / evaluate?
Further information
Avonsafe
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RoSPA
www.rospa.com
Child Accident Prevention Trust
www.capt.org.uk