General information
Injuries caused by accidents and traumas are the most common cause of death among children (childhood emergencies) in Germany. There are about 2 million accidents involving children in Germany every year. 24. 000 inpatient hospital stays make this necessary, with 650 children on average any help comes too late.
Causes
The main causes of death in accidents are craniocerebral trauma, chest trauma and bleeding. The most common accidents take place in road traffic. Often it is children running onto the road or cars driving too fast that cause serious injuries in collisions.
Despite the tragic nature of these events, it is important to proceed and act as calmly, calmly and systematically as possible, as this significantly improves the chances of survival for children. After a traumatic accident (childhood emergencies), the first aider should first alert a rescue service, then take the child out of the danger zone and secure the vital functions. The securing of vital functions includes ventilation (if the child is not breathing) and cardiac massage (if no pulse can be felt).
These measures must be carried out until the rescue service arrives at the accident site. In contrast to first aid for adults, infants are resuscitated only with the thumb or the ball of the thumb (if only one person is present, ratio 15x cardiac pressure and 2x ventilation. Medical staff will then continue the ventilation or cardiac massage, lay accesses and administer infusion solutions of various types before transport to the clinic.
A motto in emergency medicine is “Treat first what kill first” which means that the most dangerous things have to be treated first. Particularly in the case of children who have suffered bone fractures etc. in addition to unconsciousness as a result of a car accident, care must be taken to first secure the vital functions and, for example, to treat bone fractures only later.
Children who are not unconscious after an accident but who are in shock represent a special risk, because the so-called hypovolemic shock is harmless at first, but can result in a dangerous, life-threatening situation. A hypovolemic shock is characterized by cool and pale skin, excitement or unconsciousness, low blood pressure, high pulse rate and rapid breathing. It can be caused either by an increased blood loss or by a shock in which the blood is centralized (the blood is directed only to the vital organs.
Other organs are undersupplied). It is important to administer fluid immediately through the veins. The first aider can have a calming effect on the injured child.
Accidents can also lead to a so-called pneumothorax in the child, in which the lungs are usually constricted on one side and the function of vital chest organs is impaired. In this case, the lungs should be immediately unfolded again by the emergency physician through a thoracic drainage. Symptoms of a pneumothorax are shortness of breath, loss of performance and increased sound of breathing over the corresponding side of the lung.
