The impact of head injuries sustained in an accident
The majority of patients who do survive severe head injuries often have long-term effects and require extensive rehabilitation
Excessive vehicle speed…
Motorcyclists not wearing the appropriate safety gear…
Pedestrians crossing roads without checking and at the incorrect places…
These are some of the main contributing factors to head injuries sustained in road-related incidents. In a number of cases, these injuries are so severe they result in instant fatalities or patients fighting for their lives in hospital.
Speaking about what he has experienced when attending to scenes involving patients with head injuries, Saul Behrmann, the ER24 Joburg North branch manager, said, “Often, when arriving at these scenes, patients are in a critical condition and require advanced life support interventions. The situations may sometimes be chaotic until an advanced life support paramedic takes control, bringing order to the scene.
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“The patients may be combative and difficult to manage initially due to their altered state of mind. This is usually dealt with by initiating advanced life support care such as specialised procedures and medication.
“Commonly, the types of head injuries seen include, but are not limited to, haemorrhage within the skull, base of skull fractures, coup and contra-coup injuries, concussions and open skull fractures. We also sometimes have patients with penetrating injury to the skull,” he said.
Behrmann added that due to recent advancements and research in the emergency care field, there has been an improvement of mortality and morbidity rates in patients with head injuries. However, severe head injuries generally have a poor prognosis in terms of making a full recovery back to good health.
“The majority of patients who do survive severe head injuries often have long-term effects and require extensive rehabilitation in order to regain some form of independence,” said Behrmann.
He added that there are numerous measures that road users can adopt to ensure chances of sustaining serious injuries in a collision are reduced. He advised the following:
• Appropriate use of safety features within vehicles.
• Use of recognised safety gear such as helmets.
• Adhering to vehicle speed limits.
• Ensuring vehicle roadworthiness.
• Crossing roads only when it is safe to do so.
“People are also urged to ensure that young children are appropriately restrained when in a vehicle. The safety of a child car seat or a booster seat for example, has been proven time and time again when we respond to motor vehicle collisions. When vehicles are significantly damaged in a collision, we often expect children involved to have moderate to serious injuries. However, we find that children who are buckled in to their car seats are often uninjured, proving its safety and efficacy of a car seat,” said Behrmann.
