Home Injuries in Children and Elderly: Preventable or Inevitable?

Objectives: This study was conducted at the Emergency Department at Prince Hashem Ben Al-Hussein Hospital, Zarka- Jordan, to determine the types of unintentional home accidents and injuries in children (0-14 y) and elderly patients ( 65y) as they are the most common age groups at high risk in the population in order to focus future interventions and thus effectively prevent these injuries and their associated hospitalizations and to analyze family environment risk factors. Methods: This study was conducted at the Emergency Department at Prince Hashem Ben Al-Hussein Hospital located at Zarka governorate-Jordan, during the period between January 1^st 2004 and June 30^th 2004. The medical records for the study group was reviewed. Results: During the study period 1941 patients presented to the Emergency Department at Prince Hashem Ben Al- Hussein Hospital, for any type of domestic injury, 1105 (57%) patients were elderly ( 65y) and the number of children was 836 patients (43%). The commonest types of injury for the study group were falling down (54%), followed by cut wounds (39%). Number of hospitalizations was 108 (10%) elderly and 102 (12%) for children. Conclusion: Most of home accidents and injuries are preventable and not inevitable. The rates of falling down, cut wounds and other injuries are considerable. So prevention is the only way and preventive actions through effective multimedia home safety programs are neecjed. Prevention measures also must include public education, skill development, safety engineering, environmental modification, legislation, regulation and enforcement, to educate the population about poisoning, falling down, burns and other types of domestic injuries