First Aid Emergency for Burns

Fires are more common than most of us imagine. I hate to think about what I would do should my kid get burned severely! Would I know what to do first?
In the event that there is a fire or an incident in which you sustain a thermal burn injury or injuries, there are many factors to consider depending upon the circumstances.
To begin with, if you are involved in a naked flame incident as a result of which your clothes are on fire, the first thing that you must do is put the fire out. If you are doing this for yourself, the normal recommendation is to ‘stop, drop and roll' to extinguish the flames.
If on the other hand it is someone else whose clothes are on fire, either encourage them to follow the same routine or try to wrap them in a blanket or large towel to extinguish the flames. This works even better if the blanket or towel is damp.
Once the flames had been extinguished, remove any burnt clothing and if at all possible, remove yourself or the person you are helping from the vicinity of risk if that has not happened already.
The next step is to try to bring the injured skin area under control but in doing this, you need to apply a degree of care. This is because whilst applying cool water to the burned area within the first 30 seconds or so can limit the severity and extent of the burn damage, the water cannot be too cold and you should certainly never use ice.
Water that is too cold or ice applied to a burn wound could potentially encourage hypothermia in a patient whose burn injury is sufficiently serious and deep. In addition, applying ice to the wounded area could worsen the extent of the damage as well. For these reasons, you should only use cool water.
Finally, when you are attending someone else who appears to have been badly burned, your main focus whilst waiting for the emergency services to arrive should be on keeping them both warm and still. As suggested previously, someone who has suffered third degree burns is in danger of losing body heat (particularly if the burns are extensive) and movement is not recommended.
These are just the steps you should take until the ambulance arrives!

Parenting Tips
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Understanding Electrical Burns

Kids get into all sorts of stuff and I have seen them be electrocuted accidentally more than a couple of times. However now I am a little bit alarmed because I have found out that even if your kid looks okay, he or she may have suffered a dangerous burn anyway.

Electrical burns occur as a result of an external electric shock, with common causes of such accidents including exposed electric wires, incorrectly earthed electrical components in the home or workplace, and so on. It is also possible to suffer electoral burns if you are struck by lightning as well, although this is a far less common way of being burned.

The specific problem associated with electrical burns is that the injuries suffered can often be extremely serious without this being readily apparent. When an individual suffers electrical burns, the point at which the current enters and exits the body may not be very obvious, whereas the internal injuries suffered may be entirely disproportionate to the apparent injuries on the skin.

This happens because certain parts of the human body – namely the nerves and muscles – are designed to deal with and utilize the electrical charge that your body naturally produces.

Consequently, these parts of the human torso are superbly effective for conducting electricity, meaning that any external electrical ‘jolt' is channeled to and through the muscle tissue and nerves very easily. As a result, an electrical shock can cause significant nerve and muscle tissue damage, which can in turn prompt the release of electricity from affected organs.

The fact that the nerves and muscles have been damaged allied to the fact that your internal ‘electrical system' is now running amok can lead to damage to many major organs of the body, causing cardiac arrhythmia or arrest, kidney or liver failure and so on.

Furthermore, because muscles may have been damaged and as a result of the malfunctioning electrical system (it is your internal electrics that control movement), many people who suffer electrical burns become far more uncoordinated and clumsy, with the resultant falls increasing the risk of fractures and broken bones.

The solution is, of course, is to keep wires and any other sources of shock way out of your children's reach. You would also do well to by those caps you put over electric outlets to protect your children from injury.

Parenting Tips
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