Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

Assessment and management of children with head injury: Practice and opinion

Proctor, Alyesha; Voss, Sarah; Lyttle, Mark; Benger, Jonathan

Assessment and management of children with head injury: Practice and opinion Thumbnail


Authors

Sarah Voss Sarah.Voss@uwe.ac.uk
Professor of Emergency and Critical Care

Jonathan Benger



Abstract

Background: Head injury is common in children with approximately 700 000 attendances at emergency departments annually; one-third are conveyed by ambulance. However, 75% of them are discharged with no treatment. Most head-injured children could be managed on scene. Aim: This study aimed to investigate paramedic assessment and management of children with minor head injury. Methods: A web-based survey of paramedics at one trust was carried out, and simple descriptive analysis was completed. Findings: Fifty-nine paramedics took part. Parental anxiety, mechanism of injury, presence of red flags, fear of consequences and safeguarding concerns were the most common reasons that paramedics convey children with head injury to the emergency department. Paramedics employ a variety of non-validated tools to help them assess and manage children with head injury, with the head injury guidance by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence most used. A lack of confidence in wound closure was a key barrier to managing patients on scene, along with a perceived inability to manage children in general, limited GP availability, a lack of training in paediatrics and risk avoidance. Conclusions: Several factors inhibit the ability of paramedics to manage children with minor head injury on scene, leading to avoidable hospital conveyance. Three-quarters of paramedics said they would benefit from a clinical decision tool to support them in the assessment and management of children with minor head injury.

Citation

Proctor, A., Voss, S., Lyttle, M., & Benger, J. (2023). Assessment and management of children with head injury: Practice and opinion. Journal of Paramedic Practice, 15(2), 58-64. https://doi.org/10.12968/jpar.2023.15.2.58

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 19, 2022
Online Publication Date Feb 8, 2023
Publication Date Feb 2, 2023
Deposit Date Feb 17, 2023
Publicly Available Date Aug 3, 2023
Journal Journal of Paramedic Practice
Print ISSN 2041-9457
Electronic ISSN 2041-9457
Publisher MA Healthcare
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 2
Pages 58-64
DOI https://doi.org/10.12968/jpar.2023.15.2.58
Keywords General Earth and Planetary Sciences; General Environmental Science
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10460413
Publisher URL https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/jpar.2023.15.2.58

Files

Assessment and management of children with head injury: Practice and opinion (415 Kb)
PDF

Licence
http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved

Publisher Licence URL
http://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved

Copyright Statement
This is the author’s accepted manuscript of the article ‘Proctor, A., Voss, S., Lyttle, M., & Benger, J. (2023). Assessment and management of children with head injury: Practice and opinion. Journal of Paramedic Practice, 15(2), 58-64’. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12968/jpar.2023.15.2.58

The final published version is available here: https://www.magonlinelibrary.com/doi/abs/10.12968/jpar.2023.15.2.58





You might also like



Downloadable Citations