The Prevention of Injury in Australian Children - Essay Example

The Prevention of Injury in Australian Children Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Purpose The aim of this report is to provide important information on prevention of injury in Australian children. This information will be important for parents, guardians, nursing professionals, and caregivers. The report includes important issues and points related to children injuries, types of injuries, contributing factors and the impact of the injuries on the children and family and recommendations for nursing practice. Due to the vastness of children injuries, the report will centralize on school age children (with ages ranging from 2-14years). The report will also outline the responsibility of nurses as health professionals in promoting effective primary care in the community. Introduction According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2012), “injuries are usually a threat to a child health and development from early childhood and through adolescence”. Serious injuries in children can have long lasting impacts, for instance disfigurement or disability, and can affect the children family in an adverse manner, making it a very grave public health issue. In Australia, the lives of many families are emotionally affected by the loss of children to unintentional injuries that could have been prevented (Pointer & Helps, 2012; Murphy, 2000). The grief that most of these families suffers-fathers, mothers, siblings, grandparents and friends-is immense and often impact the entire community (WHO & UNICEF, 2008). Such tragedy usually changes their lives irrevocably. Accidental injuries also cause disabilities that can have a long-term effect on all the facets of the children lives learning, play, and relationships (Ballestas, Xiao, McEvoy & Somerford, 2011). As a result, there is a great need for reducing the number as well as severity of childhood injuries. Definitions Injury-This is harm done to a person body Unintentional injury-an injury that is not done deliberately, but happening by accident Health-The condition of a person’s body or mind Fatality-A death that is caused in an accident or by violence, war or disease. Hospitalization-Sending someone to a hospital for treatment Background Various factors usually contribute to children injuries and fatalities. According to “Australian Institute of Health and Welfare” (2008), there were about 22,865 children aged 0-4years who were admitted in hospitals across Australia between 2005-2006. Such hospitalization cases were higher for boys compared to that of girls. The hospitalization rates for poisonings and falls were also higher for children that live in remote and rural areas relative to those who live in urban areas (1.9 time greater for poisoning and 1.5 times greater for falls) (Berry & Harrison, 2008). The main causes of children fatalities from unintentional injuries were swimming, transport related, suffocation/strangulation, and crush injuries in Australia (“Australian Institute of Health and Welfare”, 2012). Nonetheless, success has been attained in reducing injury in various areas, with the number of children reducing by about 60% since 1983. The reduction shows that dramatic success through use of multiple strategies can be reduce child injuries and death (Ballestas, et al., 2011). Strategies for reducing children injuries can include community action, environmental changes, legislative changes, information, education, and training. Discussion In Australia, a large number of children usually die from injury (Berry & Harrison, 2008). Most of the leading cause of disability, death, and hospital admission are usually because of burns, scalds, road safety incidents, poisoning, drowning, and falls. Hospitalizations of the children from unintentional injuries mostly results from poisonings (from household cleaners, medicines, and alcohol), burns, and scalds (from hot food and drinks, hot objects, liquids) and falls (from chairs, beds, nursery furniture and in backyard from playground equipment). They also result from vehicle accidents (most of the children are injured or die as they were not well restrained in the car), near drowning (mostly witnessed from backyard swimming pools), dog bites (mostly from dogs that children know in the home environment) and choking (small objects and food) and pedestrian injuries (McKenna & Harrison, 2012; Esson & Leeds, 2012). Language and cultural issues usually aggravate these risks for the children (Pointer & Helps, 2012). Both the social and financial costs of these injuries are huge and the impact of the lives on the injured children and their families usually last a lifetime, nonetheless most of these injuries and fatalities can be prevented. According to Kidsafe (2013) and “Australian Bureau of Statistics” (2007), an Australian peak non-government organization for children injury prevention, more than 38% of the deaths among children aged 1-14 years usually result from injuries. The most common injuries in children result from near drowning, vehicle accidents, falls, poisoning, burns, and scalds. Most of the major causes of children death from unintentional injuries are usually drowning, transport treated (for instance, driveway run overs and car crashes) and unsafe sleeping situations. According to Kidsafe (2013), various populations such as those that are indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse normally suffer various kinds of injuries at a greater rate compared to the mainstream communities. For instance, hospital admissions for children poisoning are twice as common amongst indigenous people whereas the national statistics indicate that fifteen percent of drowning fatalities during 2009/2010 were amongst children from “indigenous and culturally and linguistically backgrounds” (Pointer & Helps, 2012). The toll of the injuries on the community is quite large. Most children usually end up with severe and permanent disabilities that impact on every aspect of their lives (WHO & UNICEF, 2008). There are many financial and emotional costs for the injured children and their families and for the social and health care system. Children who have suffered permanent brain injuries, which result from grave immersion incidents usually require regular care for the next sixty years of their life (Everison & Leeds, 2010; Berk, 2008). In 1998, the yearly costs of accidental injuries to children aged 0-4 years in the country was about 1.5 billion dollars (Pointer & Helps, 2012). Children are usually at a risk of increased risk of unintentional injury for various reasons. According to the National President of Kidsafe Australia, children are usually more at risk of incurring injuries because they like exploring their living environments, they can move quickly and have not yet gotten a sense of danger, fear or some of the cognitive skills that adults have. Language and cultural issues can also have an impact on the children vulnerability to injuries (Pointer & Helps, 2012). It is often not quite easy to communicate safety messages efficiently to newly arrived groups that do not use English as a first language and do not access to mainstream information sources. For instance, the vulnerability to risk is high among numerous new migrants who do not have an understanding of aquatic conditions and water safety issues in Australia and are not able to access educational content (Berry & Harrison, 2008). The individuals also have a different cultural expectation. Among the mainstream communities, individuals usually grow up in an environment whereby a seatbelt is socially acceptable and mandated. In numerous countries, this is usually not the case. Most of the children injuries and deaths are not just results of random accidents over which individuals do not have control over-they can be prevented (Pointer & Helps, 2012). Reducing the risks of unintentional injuries to children effectively calls for different approaches. It is the responsibility of every individual to help in protecting children from unintentional injury as well as death. This does not mean that people should cushion a child from the real world, however it is critical for a child to experience risk in order for them to develop important skills, nonetheless the risk should be mitigated by fitting hazard protections as well as supervision. Recommendations Nurses in emergency departments, primary healthcare centers, and at schools should contribute through exploring the way injured children perceive the injury and the injury risk situation. This would help in turning the injury situation to a learning context hence adding to the children and family development. Nurses should serve the role of an advisor or teacher with the objective of preventing children injuries by conveying important information to parents, community representative, school planners, and school staff. In order to minimize risks for children, there is need for an effective standard and regulatory framework that industry players should act in accordance with. Strict regulations that mandate seatbelts, pool fencing, and child restraints in cars play an important role in reducing car accident and drowning injuries. Nonetheless, regulation is not adequate in preventing children injuries and fatalities. Parental vigilance is also very important in preventing injuries to children (Slater et al., 2010). According to the National President of Kidsafe Australia, strong children restraint laws usually work if parent purchase the proper restraints and ensure that parents use them effectively all the time. Education is also important and the risk for unintentional injuries to children is minimized by making sure that families, parents and the members of the community are aware of the risks and they have information access to help minimize the risks. Various communication strategies can play an important role in raising awareness of the risks to the children, for instance communication information sessions, fact sheets and media campaigns can be particularly important in circulating information within groups more at risk of children injuries and fatalities. Governmental organizations should be established and should work together with community and nongovernmental groups to put in place a number of children injury prevention approaches specifically aimed at communities that are at risk of injury. Various translated fact sheets should be maintained, for instance, those on child restraint information sessions, child injury topics, information sessions, brochure in children safety, low literacy pamphlets (Kidsafe Australia, 2011). House tours with interpreters should also be used for the new migrants. Such strategies would be overall effective. The entire community should also continue to alert people on child safety matters. Since Kidsafe was established in 1979, the number of children injuries and deaths arising from unintentional injuries have reduced from more than 700 ever year to about 240 per year (Pointer & Helps, 2012). This shows that such organizations and groups can be effective in reducing and preventing child injuries and fatalities. Injury prevention strategies should involve varied approaches, which include engineering, enforcement, as well as education. Engineering should entail design and environment changes that “engineer” a passive change to eliminate or reduce a hazard. Enforcement should be in form of standards, legislations, and regulations, which can implement compliance whereas education should entail attitudinal and behavioral changes, which are needed to eliminate or reduce unintentional injuries and call for the active participation by individuals-the children at risk and those caring for or supervising the children. Conclusion Injuries in children are a grave public health issue in Australia. Injuries suffered by children are usually a threat to their health as well as development. They have both short term and long-term physical, psychological, and emotional negative impact on the victim and their families. They change their lives irrevocably. Such injuries include poisonings, burns, and scalds, falls, vehicle accidents, near drowning, dog bites, choking, and pedestrian injuries. Such tragedy usually changes their lives irrevocably. Accidental injuries also cause disabilities that can have a long-term effect on all the facets of the children lives-learning, play and relationships. As a result, there is a great need for reducing the number as well as severity of childhood injuries. Most of the children end up with severe and permanent disabilities that impact every aspect of their lives. Most of these injuries are preventable. Reducing the risks of such injuries to children effectively requires varied approaches. It is the duty of every person to help in protecting children from such injuries. Nurses play an important role in preventing such injuries. They serve the role of a teacher or advisor to facilitate prevention of children injuries through conveying important information to parents, community representative, school planners, and school staff. This information helps in significantly reducing the number of children injuries and fatalities. References Australian Bureau of Statistics (2007). Mortality and Morbidity: Children's Accidents and Injuries. Retrieved from http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/1d72f5e5299decc5ca25703b0080ccbf!OpenDocument Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2012). A picture of Australia’s Children 2012. Cat. no. PHE 167. Canberra: AIHW. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008). Australia’s Health 2008. The Australian Government, Canberra. Ballestas, T., Xiao, J., McEvoy, S., & Somerford, P. (2011). The Epidemiology of Injury in Western Australia, 2000-2008. Perth: Department of Health WA Berk, L. (2008). Infants, children & adolescents (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson Berry, J., & Harrison, J. (2008). Hospital separations due to injury and poisoning, Australia, 2003–04. Injury research and statistics series no. 30. Cat. no. INJCAT 88. Canberra: AIHW. CDC. (2001). National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Office of Statistics and Programming. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/wisqars Everison, R., & Leeds, M. (2010). WA Childhood Injury Surveillance Bulletin: Five Years on from the coding changes. Kidsafe WA (No.23). Esson, A., & Leeds, M. (2012). WA Childhood Injury Surveillance Bulletin: Annual Report 2010-2011. Kidsafe WA: PMH Kidsafe (2013). Hot topics. 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