Paediatric Minor Head Injury Glue & Go Advice
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Your child has been assessed as having a low energy head injury that has a very low likelihood of complications. When you get them home, it is very unlikely that they will have any further problems.
But, if any of the following symptoms do return, we suggest you bring them back to A&E as soon as possible:
• Unconsciousness, or lack of full consciousness (for example, problems keeping eyes open)
• Drowsiness (feeling sleepy) that goes on for longer than 1 hour when they would normally be wide awake
• Difficulty waking the child up
• Problems understanding or speaking
• Loss of balance or problems walking
• Weakness in one or more arms or legs
• Problems with eyesight
• Painful headache that won’t go away
• Vomiting
• Seizures / convulsions / fits
• Clear fluid coming out of child’s ear or nose
• Bleeding from one or both ears
Things you shouldn’t worry about
They may feel some other symptoms over the next few days which should disappear in the next 2 weeks. These include a mild headache, feeling sick (without vomiting), dizziness, irritability or bad
temper, problems concentrating or problems with their memory, tiredness, lack of appetite or problems sleeping. If you feel very concerned about any of these symptoms in the first few days after discharge, you should seek medical advice from your GP or Urgent Care Centre. If these problems do not go away after 2 weeks, you should seek medical advice from your GP or Urgent Care Centre.
Things that will help your child to get better
If the child follows this advice, it should help them to get better more quickly and it may help any symptoms they have to go away:
• DO have plenty of rest and avoid stressful situations
• DO NOT take sleeping pills, sedatives or tranquillisers unless prescribed by a doctor
• DO NOT play any contact sport e.g. football for at least 3 weeks without talking to your doctor first.
Things you should do to make sure your child is OK:
• DO NOT allow them to return to school until you feel they have completely recovered.
• DO NOT leave your child alone in your home for the first 24 hours after leaving hospital.
• Do make sure that there is a nearby telephone and that the child stays within easy reach of medical help.
Long-Term Problems:
Most children recover quickly from their accident and experience no long-term problems. However, some children may develop problems after a few weeks or months. If you start to feel that things are not quite right for your child (for example memory problems, not feeling themselves), then please contact your GP as soon as possible to ensure your child is recovering properly.
You can find further information and support from the Child Brain Injury Trust:
http://childbraininjurytrust.org.uk/
Milton Keynes Hospital Switchboard: 01908 660033
Wound Care
Instead of stitches we have used special medical glue to close you your child’s wound. It acts like a scab to hold the edges of the wound together and drops off by itself when the wound is properly
healed. The scab may not fall off for 2 – 3 weeks.
During the first 5 days you should:
• Carry on activities as normal
• Keep the area clean and dry for 5 days
You should not:
• Pick the glue or comb near it
• Go swimming
• If the glue is on your head you should not wash your hair. If you need to, you can clean the hair around the wound with a sponge
After five days you can:
• Treat the area as normal
• Go swimming as normal
Go to the nearest Emergency Department or phone us on 01908 243600 if:
• You are worried about your child
• The wound opens again