Unintentional injuries at school: what are we talking about?

Introduction: Studies on the impact of the unintentional injuries resulting from accidents at home and outdoors have been carried out, but there is scarce literature about those originating at schools. Objective: To know the characteristics of school accidents treated in our area of influence in the period of one year.

Material and methods: Retrospective and descriptive study conducted by review of medical records of children aged 1 to 15 who came to the Emergency Department of a private clinic in the year 2014, for assessment of injuries originated at schools of Vizcaya.

Results: 20,420 cases of which 958 were school accidents (4.6%) were attended. Male were more prominent and the average age was 9 years old. Seventy percent of injuries occurred outside the classroom, the most frequent injury mechanism was direct trauma (56.5%) and the predominant location were the upper extremities where the injuries were also more serious. Complementary tests were carried out, mainly bone x-ray in 56%, and 69% of patients required treatment in the Emergency Department.

Conclusions: Unintentional injuries that happen in school are a great unknown for the pediatrician. In general, they are injuries of mild to moderate severity, requiring additional tests and treatment in a high percentage of cases. The knowledge of the circumstances surrounding these accidents and their risk factors would establish appropriate preventive strategies.