Ann
Emerg Med 2001 Oct;38(4):405-14
Injury
prevention and control in children.
Mace
SE, Gerardi MJ, Dietrich AM, Knazik SR,
Mulligan-Smith D, Sweeney RL, Warden CR.
Department
of Emergency Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Foundation,
Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA. maces@ccf.org
Injury is the number one cause of death and
life-years lost for children. In children, injury
mortality is greater than childhood mortality from
all other causes combined. Modern injury
prevention and control seeks to prevent and limit
or control injuries through the 4 Es of injury
prevention: engineering, enforcement, education,
and economics. Emergency physicians are often
placed in a critical role in the lives of
individuals, are respected authorities on the
health and safety of children and adults, and have
daily exposure to high-risk populations. This
gives emergency physicians a unique perspective
and an opportunity to take an active role in
injury control and prevention. Specific methods or
strategies for promulgating injury prevention and
control in our emergency medicine practices are
suggested, ranging from education (for our
patients and health professionals); screening and
intervention for domestic violence, child
maltreatment, drug-alcohol dependency and abuse;
data collection; reporting unsafe products;
research; legislation; serving in regulatory and
governmental agencies; emergency medical
services-community involvement; and violence
prevention. Emergency physicians can play a
significant role in decreasing pediatric injury
and its concomitant morbidity and mortality.
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