In this case study an 8-year old male named Mike was brought into a small rural ER after being a hit and run victim. He had been riding his bicycle in the street and was not wearing his helmet at the time of the crash. Mike sustained facial and head trauma. The paramedics were able to control his facial bleeding prior to entering the ER. He appears to have no extremity fractures. The study will cover risk factors, history and assessment questions required to determine the level of head injury Mike sustained.
History Taking StrategyHead InjuryHead injury is an injury to the scalp, skull, or brain. A brain injury is classified as either closed or penetrating. They can be minimal or devastating to the patient. Signs of brain injury can occur immediately or develop over several hours. The skull does not need to sustain a fracture in order for the patient to obtain a head injury.
Mike Mills (REM)
Mike
Mike Harding on Touch 25In the United States 1.4 million Traumatic Brain Injuries occur each year. Out of these figures, 50,000 die, 225,000 are hospitalized and 1.1 million are treated and related from emergency rooms each year. TBI in children ages 0-14 result in 2,685 deaths, 37,000 hospitalizations and 435,000 emergency room visits each year. (National Center for Injury and Prevention Control, 2007)Upon entering the ER, several questions that must be asked in order to determine a head injury. During the question and answering process special attention should be focused on how does the patient respond to the questions? Can the child speak fluently; is the speech garbled or disorganized? Can they mentally put the words together? Can the patient hear what has been said to them? Can he see what is in front of him? Can he move his extremities? These are all indicators of possible head...