Children hospitalized due to summer accidents increase

Accidents and injuries lurk in children anytime, anywhere.

Dr. Nguyen Tan Hung, Deputy Head of the Department of Emergency and Anti-Poison, National Children's Hospital, said that in just over 2 weeks, the number of children hospitalized with injuries has increased compared to the time before the summer break. Drowning, traffic accidents, and household accidents are the main injuries in children.

The most recent case was a child patient TM (14 years old, in Quang Ninh ) who was riding an electric bike and unfortunately crashed into a car. After the accident, the child became unconscious and was diagnosed with pericardial effusion/cardiac trauma at the provincial hospital. Doctors performed endotracheal intubation, pericardial drainage, and transferred him to the National Children's Hospital for further treatment.

Another case is that of TH (5 years old, in Hanoi ), who was riding a bicycle with his grandfather when he was hit by a car. TH was admitted to the National Children's Hospital with contusions, bleeding lungs, fractures of the 8th and 9th ribs on the right side, grade II liver injury, and complete skin loss on the right arm and scalp.

According to doctors, previously, in May, the National Children's Hospital also admitted many children in critical condition due to falls, burns, drowning, etc.

In addition, many hospitals have recorded extremely heartbreaking cases of child injuries that occurred right in the family and could have been prevented. That was the case of a 9-month-old baby in Hung Nguyen district, Nghe An , who died from choking on rambutan seeds. While playing, the baby picked up a rambutan seed at home and swallowed it. When the incident was discovered, the family immediately took him to the emergency room, but he did not survive. Or the case of a 5-year-old baby in Phu My district, Binh Dinh province, who was at home eating rambutan with his brother and choked on a seed. Seeing him unconscious, the brother called relatives to take him to the emergency room, but he did not survive.

Teaching children prevention skills

According to Dr. Nguyen Tan Hung, the main reason is that during this time, children are off school and are free to play, but lack supervision from their families and schools. In addition, children are hyperactive, curious, and lack knowledge and skills to prevent accidents, so they are very susceptible to injuries.

Children from 2 to 5 years old often have accidents at home such as: falls, burns, choking on foreign objects, drinking chemicals by mistake...; while children from 6 to 14 years old often have accidents such as drowning, traffic accidents... Because children naturally love playing in water, especially in the hot summer. If there is no close supervision from adults when children swim, play in ponds, lakes, swimming pools..., they face a high risk of drowning.

According to Dr. Nguyen Tan Hung, to prevent accidents and injuries to children, parents need to pay more attention to their children, and at the same time instruct and educate children about self-protection, about dangers and risks that may occur when participating in traffic, or when children climb and play. Instruct children on the most basic skills to avoid the risk of facing accidents when living and playing. Absolutely do not let children climb to high floors, open windows... Windows and balconies must have safety barriers, steps and stairs must have railings and sturdy handrails to prevent children from tripping and falling.

Doctors also strongly recommend that parents teach their children skills to prevent accidents and injuries. For older children, families and schools need to guide and educate them on how to participate in traffic safely, obey traffic laws, not run red lights, walk on the road, cross the road suddenly, play, play soccer on the road, ride bicycles in a row encroaching on the lanes of other vehicles. For construction sites, warning signs should be placed to warn road users of danger, to avoid unfortunate accidents./.

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