Who cares that more children die of accidents than of diseases.
It is standard practice for pediatricians to provide guidance on a variety of unintentional injury-prevention counseling for infants, preschool-aged children, school-aged children, and adolescents as well as their parents. These include:
- Traffic safety
- Burn prevention
- Fall prevention
- Choking prevention
- Drowning prevention/water safety
- Safe sleep environment
- Cardiopulmonary resuscitation
- Poison prevention
- Firearm safety
- Sports safety
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, gunshot wounds account for one in 25 admissions to pediatric trauma centers in the United States. Furthermore, a gun in the home is 43 times more likely to be used to kill a friend or family member than a burglar or other criminal.
As the trite but true saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
And in this day where healthcare costs are spiraling, how precious and common-sense it is to ask and provide guidance on firearm safety and security at a cost of one physician visit rather than a child accidentally getting shot and using up hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of surgeries, hospitalizations, studies, physician visits, etc.
Read the ABC report here.
Why as an ENT am I even bothered about this? It's because I often have to ask similar but what some people may consider very private questions akin to asking about guns (ie, oral sex).
Reference:
Office-based counseling for unintentional injury prevention. Pediatrics 2007 Jan;119(1):202-6.
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