The main reason is that children are hyperactive and absent from school for long periods, while the family's need to go home, travel, celebrate, and have fun increases. In addition, the busyness of adults causes children to be neglected, leading to many unfortunate situations that seriously affect the health and life of children.
Risk of serious drowning accidents
Near Tet, the Emergency and Poison Control Department of the National Children's Hospital received 3 serious drowning cases. All 3 children were not given proper first aid with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and chest compressions, but were instead carried upside down and run.
The children were admitted to the hospital in critical condition, with respiratory and circulatory failure. The cause of drowning was due to children playing without adult supervision, falling into koi ponds, rice fields, ponds and lakes. After intensive resuscitation with mechanical ventilation, hemodynamic stabilization, antibiotics and active hypothermia to protect the brain, the children's health was stable. However, the children still need to be monitored for neurological sequelae.
The maximum time the brain can withstand a lack of oxygen is only 4-5 minutes. In particular, children who drown in the cold season will easily suffer from rapid hypothermia, making the condition worse. Therefore, when you see a drowning child who is unconscious, not breathing, or has stopped breathing, you need to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, chest compressions) immediately, because this is the golden time to save the child's life.
8 year old boy suffered traumatic brain injury due to traffic accident
In another case, an 8-year-old boy (in Nam Dinh) was walking on the street when he was unfortunately hit by a motorbike. After the accident, the child had a headache, was agitated, had swelling in his jaw and face, and had many injuries on his body. The child was taken by his family to the provincial hospital for first aid, then transferred to the Emergency and Poison Control Department, National Children's Hospital for intensive treatment.
Here, after being examined and having paraclinical tests, the doctors diagnosed the child with a traumatic brain injury due to a traffic accident, along with many skin lacerations, swelling in the forehead, shoulders, arms and slight bruising in the chest. After the doctors treated the wound and applied active treatment measures, the child recovered and was discharged from the hospital.
Boy burned many parts of body while bathing
Doctors at the Burn Unit - Orthopedics Department, National Children's Hospital also treated a 12-year-old boy in Hanoi who suffered second and third degree boiling water burns in many areas of his body, including: Head, neck, shoulders, chest on both sides and right forearm. Previously, at around 6 p.m. the same day, the child was unfortunately burned while taking a shower at home.
Immediately after discovering the incident, the family quickly took the child to the National Children's Hospital for emergency treatment. At the Orthopedic Department, doctors treated the wound and took care of it, changing the bandages daily for the child. After a week of treatment, the child is now stable and can be discharged in the next 1-2 days.
According to Dr. Nguyen Tan Hung - Deputy Head of the Department of Emergency and Anti-Poison, National Children's Hospital, drowning is just one of many potential risks that children may encounter during Tet.
Every year, around the time of Tet, the Emergency and Poison Control Department receives many cases of accidents and injuries in children. These accidents can be burns, broken bones, skin wounds, poisoning, choking on foreign objects, etc. The main reason is that children do not have the ability to protect themselves.
Especially for children living in big cities, when returning to their hometowns to celebrate Tet with their families in rural areas, there are many new environments with many strange things for children and also more risks such as ponds, lakes, trees, etc. Meanwhile, adults are busy and neglect, do not closely supervise, causing children to encounter many unfortunate situations that endanger their health and lives.
In order for the Tet holiday to take place safely and completely, parents should pay attention to prevent common accidents in children such as: Drowning, electric shock, burns, firecrackers, choking on foreign objects, chemical poisoning, food poisoning, CO poisoning due to coal heating, falls, traffic accidents... At the same time, parents also need to equip themselves with proper first aid skills when children have accidents in life.
