Prevention of Unintentional Injuries among 15-24 Months Old Toddlers

This presentation focuses on the prevention of unintentional injuries among 15-24 months old toddlers. It discusses the leading cause of death among toddlers in New Zealand and provides fall prevention strategies. The presentation aims to raise awareness among parents and caregivers and promote combined efforts to reduce the high rates of fatalities and unintentional injuries in toddlers.

HEALTH PROMOTION MESSAGE-
UNINTENTIONAL INJURIES
PREVENTION AMONG 15 TO 24
MONTHS OLD
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:

INTRODUCTION
 This week’s presentation is on
“Prevention of unintentional injuries
among 15-24 months toddlers”
 According to Safekids Aotearoa, New
Zealand, nine in 100,000 children suffer
from fatal unintentional injury or risk
that increases as they age 2 (Fan et al.,
2013).
 Therefore, it is important to prevent
unintentional injuries at home with
parental supervision and attention

AIMS
 Prevent unintentional injuries at home by
describing recent data and identifying causes
of the injuries
 Raise awareness among parents and
caregivers on how these injuries happen and
how it can be minimized
 Working in partnership in injury prevention
and helping them to advocate for prevention
plans and programs

AGE GROUP
 15 months to 2 years
 Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of
death among toddlers in New Zealand
contributing to high rates of morbidity and
mortality (Shepherd et al., 2013)
 As they learn to climb, run and asserts
independence; can fall into unprotected
accumulations of trip, water; attempt to perform
activities that are beyond their skill level (Fraser
et al., 2014)
 Therefore, prevention and parent supervision is
required to prevent risk of unintentional injuries
among toddlers

15-24 MONTH OLDS SAFETY- FALLS
 Injuries happen from inanimate mechanical
forces among this age group; falls may occur
on same level due to tripping, slipping or
stumbling, playground equipment
 Between the years 2008 to 2012, falls were
considered leading cause of unintentional
injuries among 15 to 24 month olds (Keall et
al., 2015)
 Hospitalizations and non-fatal injuries occur
due to falls that contribute to burden of child
injuries in New Zealand

DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE AND LINK TO INJURY
 During this age, toddlers engage in play alone
or with others in making believe play that is
linked to injury area where they cannot rely on
instruction or verbal commands in avoiding
accidents
 They become mobile with poor balance that
make them prone to falls; while reaching out
to dangerous objects
 Wiggle off chairs, tables and other surfaces
where they can fall from a height or get their
body or head stuck

HEALTH PROMOTION MESSAGE
 To prevent the incidence of unintentional
injuries among 15 to 24 months old, parent
and caregiver supervision is mandatory
 To reduce the unacceptable high rates of
fatalities and unintentional injuries in toddlers
through combined effort
 Implementation of evidence-based safety
measures and teaching plan for colleagues
and managers to prevent unintentional
injuries among toddlers

FALL PREVENTION STRATEGIES FOR
TODDLERS
 Ensure stairs have rails and well lit and
maintained; carpeting on floors; buffering of
sharp furniture edges;
 using straps to secure child on elevated
surfaces like changing tables or high chairs
 Use of window guards, close child supervision
and uncluttered space around windows
 Installing protective railings around stairs,
fixing of unsafe surfacing and ditches (Lee et
al., 2013)

 Provide information to parents and caregivers
 Use of lower cost safety products
 Advice parents and caregivers to closely
supervise children to avoid unintentional
injuries at home
 Assist parents with safety products installation
at homes acting as facilitator with
dissemination of regulation of product safety
(Theurer & Bhavsar 2013)

OUTCOME EVALUATION
 Feedback from parents and caregivers to
understand the effectiveness of fall prevention
strategies
 Reduction in falls with less number of
hospitalizations due to unintentional injuries
 Careful supervision of children by parents and
other family members

TEACHING PLAN

REFERENCES
Fan, A. Y., Che, A. H., Pan, B., Yang, C., Coulter, C. V., Shieffelbien, L., ... & Braund,
R. (2013). Investigating Childhood and Adolescence Poisoning Exposures in New
Zealand Reported to the National Poisons Centre during 2000-2009. Asia Pacific
Journal of Medical Toxicology, 2(2), 52-57.
Fraser, J., Sidebotham, P., Frederick, J., Covington, T., & Mitchell, E. A. (2014).
Learning from child death review in the USA, England, Australia, and New
Zealand. The Lancet, 384(9946), 894-903.
Keall, M. D., Pierse, N., Howden-Chapman, P., Cunningham, C., Cunningham, M.,
Guria, J., & Baker, M. G. (2015). Home modifications to reduce injuries from falls
in the Home Injury Prevention Intervention (HIPI) study: a cluster-randomised
controlled trial. The Lancet, 385(9964), 231-238.
Lee, Y. L. G., Yip, W. K., Goh, B. W., Chiam, E. P. J., & Ng, H. P. C. (2013). Fall
prevention among children in the presence of caregivers in a paediatric ward: a
best practice implementation. International Journal of Evidence‐Based
Healthcare, 11(1), 33-38.
Shepherd, M., Kool, B., Ameratunga, S., Bland, V., Hassall, I., Chambers, J., ... &
Dalziel, S. (2013). Preventing child unintentional injury deaths: prioritising the
response to the New Zealand Child and Adolescent Injury Report
Card. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 37(5), 470-474.
Theurer, W. M., & Bhavsar, A. K. (2013). Prevention of unintentional childhood
injury. American family physician, 87(7).