3-year-old child in critical condition after having his hat string caught on a slide and strangled his neck. Doctor points out the risks and how to prevent them.

GĐXH - While playing on the slide, a child's hood accidentally got caught on the side of the slide, the hood's string pulled back, causing the child to be held in a suffocating position.

Critical when playing slide accident

On December 30, the National Children's Hospital informed that recently there have been many cases of children suffering from accidents due to unexpected accidents while playing in playgrounds or other play areas. In particular, in recent days, the National Children's Hospital has received and actively treated a case of a 3-year-old child with respiratory failure, respiratory arrest, and cardiac arrest due to a hat string getting caught on a slide and strangling his neck.

Taking the medical history, the family said that the child was playing on the slide in a downward position when unfortunately the child's hood got caught on the side of the slide, the cord inside the hood retracted, causing the child to be held in a suffocating position. After about 10 minutes, the child was discovered in a state of cyanosis and had stopped breathing.

The child was immediately taken to the nearest medical facility for cardiopulmonary resuscitation and intubation, then transferred to the Emergency and Poison Control Department - National Children's Hospital. The child was admitted to the hospital in critical condition, comatose, convulsing, and secreting a lot of phlegm through the endotracheal tube. Doctors quickly performed emergency and intensive resuscitation measures to save the child.

However, the patient's prognosis is currently very severe, with respiratory failure, multiple organ dysfunction, and risk of neurological sequelae due to prolonged out-of-hospital circulatory arrest causing lack of oxygen to the brain.

The children are closely monitored by doctors. Photo: BVCC

Risks and measures to prevent accidents caused by clothing drawstrings

Risk:

- Suffocation or strangulation: Drawstrings on hats or collars can strangle a child's neck while playing or get caught on equipment such as slides or swings.

- Stuck or Entangled: The cord can get caught in doors, elevators, or play equipment, causing accidents or pulling children down.

- Falling: Long drawstrings on pants can get tangled around the legs or caught on obstacles when the child moves, leading to falling.

How to avoid:

- Avoid dressing children in shirts with drawstrings around the neck, hats, or long strings on pants.

- Prioritize dressing children in clothes with zippers, buttons or elastic instead of drawstrings.

- Supervise children while they play.

First aid measures when detecting a child choking on a zip tie. Photo: BVCC

Raise awareness and learn first aid for children

According to Dr. Nguyen Tan Hung - Deputy Head of the Department of Emergency and Anti-Poison (National Children's Hospital), children's playgrounds are places for children to play and develop physically. However, they are also places with many potential risks of accidents for children if they are not supervised and designed safely. To minimize unfortunate risks, raising awareness and implementing measures to prevent accidents and injuries is extremely urgent for families, schools and the community.

Depending on the type of injury, adults can apply different first aid methods. If the child does not have cardiac arrest but has bleeding wounds, the first thing to do is to bandage the wound. If the child has a broken bone, immobilize the broken bone.

If the child shows signs of apnea or lack of oxygen, we need to stimulate to see if the child responds or has circulation; then call for support from those around; Assess the airway, clear the airway, if the child is not breathing, immediately perform chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. All injuries in children need to be properly treated and the child taken to a medical facility for timely treatment.

Source: https://giadinh.suckhoedoisong.vn/be-3-tuoi-nguy-kich-do-bi-day-mu-ao-mac-vao-cau-truot-that-ngang-co-bac-si-chi-ra-nguy-co-va-cach-phong-tranh-172241230102203402.htm