Preventing Pediatric Injuries: Clinician Roles and Responsibilities - Research Paper

Introduction

Infants are susceptible to injuries which, according to Ablewhite et al. 2015, is a significant cause of deaths in infants and children across the US. Stakeholders such as parents and clinicians aid in streamlining the environment and improving the safety of children by the prevention of injuries. According to Ablewhite et al. (2015), clinicians' responsibility in the prevention of pediatric injuries entails education programs, instruction and change advocacy for the improvement of the safety of children. Highlights that injury prevention counselling program among infants is provided as a comprehensive child examination. Pediatric injuries constitute a significant concern in the health care setting with authorities such as American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the US Preventive Task Force, and the American Medical Association provides for counselling provisions for child examination (Ablewhite et al., 2015). Pediatric injuries are treated as diseases which can be categorized as either intentional or unintentional. However, the injuries can be cured by prevention. In this case, the underlying factors for intentional and unintentional may vary, but the principles of injury prevention are similar. As pointed out by Slemaker, Espeleta, Heidari, Bohora & Silovsky (2017), significant injuries leading to death in infants arise from motor vehicle accidents, firearms and poisoning. These injuries can, however, be prevented with the deployment of effective approaches. This paper presents an evaluation of pediatric injury prevention, the need for prevention and barriers to safety and advocacy for safeguarding children with reference to the Hispanic population.

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The rate of pediatric injuries is reported to be high among the Hispanics and other high-risk populations. According to Slemaker et al. (2017), the rate of pediatric injury is significantly higher among Hispanics as compared to whites. The rate of injury risks is attributed to exposure to injury risks, parenting practices, size of family, practices in place to facilitate injury prevention and language. The surrounding provides the immediate risk factors which can result in both intentional and unintentional injuries. On the other hand, parenting practices, along with cultural practices, influence the rate of pediatric trauma. The rate of pediatric injury is closely related to the size of the family and the available measures to prevent pediatric injuries from occurring. The client is of Hispanic decency, comes from a low-income background and non-English speaking Hispanic. The infant from this family is therefore exposed to a variety of risk factors common with low-income populations. The ethnic disparities in the rate of injuries can be noted from the background information of the client. A two-year-old boy rescued from drowning reported no significant medical history. Apart from the susceptibility to injury risks, the boy was evaluated and found to be in good health. Drowning, motor vehicle injury, suffocation and fire burns are common unintentional injuries. Homicides, firearm injury and suicides, which constitute the intentional injuries prevalent among the Hispanics (Slemaker et al., 2017). This accounts to the ethnic disparities in pediatric injuries.

In addressing the prevention of pediatric injuries, the prevailing environmental factors and health hazards surrounding the infants need to be addressed. In line with the educating parents and other caretakers, clinicians need to take into account the most prevalent health hazards surrounding the children and the underlying support accorded by the parents and caretakers. The exposure to risk factors, the type of parenting and language factor are important in addressing the requirements in the education and advocacy for child safety. The ethnic injury rate can also be used to provide a guide in injury prevention by highlighting key areas of concern. Similarly, interventions can be adopted culturally and linguistically to pinpoint the particular areas which expose the children to injuries. In this case, the efforts in injury prevention should consider the changing population demographics. Minority groups face low socioeconomic status, cultural differences, language barriers, and difficulties in adapting to a new environment. Therefore, vulnerability to injuries is common owing to the low income, household overcrowding, unemployment and relocation expose the infants to injury risks.

Importance of Pediatric Injury Prevention

This results in a higher rate of severe injuries which result in the high number of associated injuries. Unintentional injuries resulting from drowning, suffocation, poisoning and falls can be prevented by caretakers, family members or parents (Schnitzer, Dowd, Kruse & Morrongiello, 2015). The alarming death rate resulting from pediatric injuries need to be addressed with the aim of improving the mortality and morbidity of infants. Infants succumb to unexpected deaths due to sudden infant deaths. However, sudden infant deaths can be prevented by placing children on their backs while sleeping. Injury is the primary cause of death in children and disabilities. Therefore, it is imperative to come up with strategies to curb injuries. Motor vehicle injuries account to many disabilities among infants. The safety of infants should be prioritized while boarding vehicles. This implies that appropriate resistant seats should be used to children of different ages. Trauma and disabilities impact the quality of life of children in their adult life. This can also impact on their mental stability. The mental stability and cognitive function are crucial for the normal growth and development of children (Schnitzer et al., 2015). However, injuries from suffocation and drowning may affect the mental and cognitive abilities of infants and therefore derail their development process. In this line, it is recommended for doors leading to pools to be well fit with latches and the area around the pool fenced completely to eliminate access by infants. According to Slemaker et al. (2017), suffocation accounts for significant injury-related deaths in infants. It is vital for parents to understand the potential risks to the health of infants and the possible resolutions to prevent possible injuries.

Prevention strategies are crucial to reduce the alarming statistics on child injuries. Injury prevention aids in reducing the pressure of conflicts on families and medical costs (Schnitzer et al., 2015). Infant injury can lead to blames on caretakers or between parents. Tension can grow, which is detrimental to the peace of the family. In this case, it can lead to separation and family conflicts. The burden created by infant injury can break a family or create confusion and misunderstanding among family members. Prevention can, therefore, impact on the peaceful coexistence of family members as well as safeguard any strain that can arise from infant injury.

Common Barriers to Safety and Teaching

Teaching and advocating for infant safety is essential in creating awareness and sensitizing parents and families on safety measures to safeguard the health of infants. Sensitization can take various forms with the use of seminars, social functions and social media. However, multiple drawbacks can be cited which limit the success of safety and teaching strategies that offer guidance to parents on approaches to prevent infant injuries (Ablewhite et al., 2015). The safety approaches are the key factors to consider as far as infant safety is concerned. However, communication to the parents and making an impact in communication is the primary concern. During routine visits, parents tend to have a fixed time and cite a lack of time to listen to the education program. However, in some cases, the physicians assume the parents are in a rush and therefore fail to ask the parents on injury prevention. According to (Ablewhite et al., 2015), some counsellor lacks confidence in their practice and thus make them feel uncomfortable counselling parents on injury prevention. However, a counsellor on the residency program are the ones who report a lack of confidence in the counselling process. Therefore, the deployment of counsellors on residency program needs to be accompanied by an experienced counsellor to impact on the success of the advocacy strongly. In other accounts, language barrier limits the effectiveness of counselling sessions. The non-English-speaking population are a disadvantage due to lack of translators and therefore miss on the teaching.

On the other hand, some parents do not anticipate the occurrence of some injuries or associated consequences. Some parents hold the perception that some injuries are inevitable and are part of child development. According to Ablewhite et al. (2015), frequency in pediatric counselling impacts on enhanced safety among parents and caretakers. However, some parents tend to ignore the counselling sessions and therefore are most likely prone to neglecting the necessary safety precautions.

Conclusion

Pediatric injury is common across the world. The measures deployed to curb the rise in pediatric injuries need to address both intentional and unintentional injuries. However, reducing the high rate in pediatric injuries can be reduced by clinicians and parents working together. Pediatric injury prevention is essential in maintaining a healthy growth and development process of children. The mental state of children may be affected due to trauma from the injuries, which may affect them at older ages. Assumptions can hamper teaching and advocacy by clinicians and parents, lack of understanding presented through the language barrier and lack of interest by parents.

References

Ablewhite, J., Peel, I., McDaid, L., Hawkins, A., Goodenough, T., Deave, T., ... & Kendrick, D. (2015). Parental perceptions of barriers and facilitators to preventing child unintentional injuries within the home: a qualitative study. BMC Public Health, 15(1), 280. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-1547-2

Slemaker, A., Espeleta, H. C., Heidari, Z., Bohora, S. B., & Silovsky, J. F. (2017). Childhood Injury Prevention: Predictors of Home Hazards in Latino Families Enrolled in SafeCare+. Journal of pediatric psychology, 42(7), 738-747.

Schnitzer, P. G., Dowd, M. D., Kruse, R. L., & Morrongiello, B. A. (2015). Supervision and risk of unintentional injury in young children. Injury prevention, 21(e1), e63-e70. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/injuryprev-2013-041128