• Br J Nurs · Sep 2017

    Case Reports

    Recognition and nursing management of abusive head trauma in children.

    • Francesca Louise Payne, Daphin Nazareth Fernandez, Lucy Jenner, and Siba Prosad Paul.
    • Year 5 Medical Student, Peninsula College of Medicine & Dentistry, Universities of Exeter and Plymouth.
    • Br J Nurs. 2017 Sep 28; 26 (17): 974-981.

    AbstractAbusive head trauma (AHT) describes an injury to the head caused by a deliberate impact or shaking by a parent or carer. It can cause significant morbidity and mortality in infants, and is most commonly seen in those aged under 2 years. The initial presentation of AHT can include vague symptoms and the correct diagnosis may be missed by health professionals. Subdural haematoma, brain oedema and retinal haemorrhages are well-known features associated with AHT. However, other conditions such as birth trauma, accidental falls in infants and bleeding disorders can all mimic AHT, thus making its recognition difficult. Suspicion of AHT should lead to initiation of safeguarding procedures alongside organising neurological imaging to identify skull fracture and/or intracranial lesions. This article highlights different aspects of the clinical presentation of AHT and its management. Safeguarding and recognising child abuse is vital and requires every member of the multidisciplinary team to remain vigilant. An illustrative case study is included to highlight some of the challenges that health professionals working in different clinical set-ups are likely to come across while managing an infant with AHT.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…