Retrospective Evaluation of Pediatric Patients monitored with Trauma in Emergency Service: Three-Years Evaluation;

Abstract

Objective: This study was carried out retrospectively to investigate the type, frequency, and physical effects of trauma in 0- to 6-year-old children admitted to the emergency department. Material and Methods: The data were collected using the admission record of emergency department and patient follow-up forms of 1,237 pediatric trauma patients between the ages of 0 and 6 years from January 2014 to January 2017. The data collected were transferred retrospectively to the “data collecting form,” which was prepared by the researcher. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences 21.0 (IBM SPSS Corp.; Armonk, NY, USA) package program. Results: Of the total patients, 57.2% were male, and 35.7% were between 0 and 12 months old. The reasons for admission of these patients were stated as falling down (48.7%), hitting (13.6%), and falling from a height (13.4%). In addition, it was indicated that the injuries of the patients admitted to the ER were head and neck injury (67.4%) and extremity trauma (28.9%). When the patients’ ages and other variables were compared, it was observed that children in the age group of 0–12 months stayed in the ER more than any other age groups; falling down from a height was mostly seen in the 0–12 months age group; pulling of arm and presence of foreign bodies in the eye, ears, and nose were mostly seen in the 13–36 months age group; hitting, squeezing, and distortion of extremities were seen mostly in the age group of 37–72 months (p<0.05). It was found that head and neck injuries were more frequent in children in the age group of 0–12 months than older children, whereas thoracic injuries were more frequent in the age groups of 0–12 and 37–72 months. Conclusion: The result of this study is that the trauma in the age group of 0–6 years can be prevented by taking some precautions by the families by considering the children’s developmental features. © 2020 The authors.