A field of ninety degrees, and a throat that is narrower than an adult’s

Parents, the essay says, should not take their eyes off an infant or a young child, because an accident can happen in an instant. Young children, as the page states, have a visual field of only 90 degrees, a large head that can strike first in a fall, and a self-centred way of moving, so one cannot tell when or where an accident will come. Prevention is the most important thing, but knowledge is still needed when an accident has already taken place unexpectedly. A proper response, the writer says, can turn an event that might have led to a death into a simple fracture. The methods in the sections that follow are those the student essay sets out, drawing on a 2012 paediatric nursing text, and are left as that page describes them, not as a current official protocol.

When something catches in the throat, choking can follow. Choking, the page says, is a substance that should have gone down the oesophagus entering the airway, between the oesophagus and the windpipe, and blocking the breath. A young child’s larynx is narrower than an adult’s, so a coin, a jelly, or a piece of rice cake can block the airway in an instant, and the object should be removed quickly. The page says to call 119 and to use the Heimlich manoeuvre, pushing the abdomen up. If the child can cough alone, it is good to show a strong cough and to pat the back, so that the child is led to cough. If the child cannot cough, abdominal thrusts should be started at once. The adult stands behind the child, puts the arms around the waist, and places a leg between the child’s legs to steady the body. Because the heights do not match, the adult should kneel. One hand is made into a fist and placed just above the navel and just below the breastbone; the other hand wraps the fist; the elbows are bent, and the abdomen is pushed quickly upward five times. The movement should be exact, and the ribs should not be touched. After five thrusts the state is checked, and the sequence is repeated until the object comes out or the child loses consciousness. If consciousness is already lost, cardiopulmonary resuscitation is to be used: the child is laid on the floor face up; thirty chest compressions are followed by two breaths; when giving breaths the mouth is opened and, if an object is visible, it is removed; the work continues until the object is out and breathing returns.

A torn knee, a missed step, and a joint that should not be forced

A laceration is a wound in which the skin is torn irregularly; it can also damage the tissue under the skin and the nerves and vessels tied to the muscle. An incision is a cut from something sharp, such as a knife or a piece of glass, and often bleeds heavily. An abrasion is a wound from a fall or a scrape; blood may appear, but a suture is often not needed, and the risk of a bacterial infection is larger, so care is needed. A puncture is a wound from something pointed, such as a thorn or a nail; the outward bleeding is small, but there may be severe bleeding inside, and a risk of infection, so later care matters.

For a laceration or a scrape on a knee, the essay says to protect the hands with a disposable glove, or even with wrap or plastic, from a fear of infection; to cover the torn place completely with sterile gauze or a clean cloth and to press directly with a finger or the palm; to bandage over the gauze; and to keep the place higher than the heart. A dirty knee should first be washed with tap water or saline, then stopped with clean gauze. If the bleeding has stopped and the wound looks simple, an ointment and a plaster may be used. If the child has been punctured by an iron nail, blood should be squeezed out, the place washed under running water and disinfected, and the child taken to a hospital, from a risk of tetanus. For a laceration or a cut, the place is washed with saline and stopped with gauze; except when bleeding is severe, washing comes first. If the wound is slight, it is held with a plaster so that it does not open, and the child is taken to surgery. A caution on the page is that, the more likely a suture is, the less one should casually disinfect the wound or put on an ointment. If the area is too large, one should stop the bleeding and move quickly to a hospital.

A sprain is a ligament that supports a joint being stretched or torn by an outside blow; a muscle can also be stretched or torn. A dislocation is a bone temporarily leaving its ordinary place in a joint; it is often seen in a shoulder, an elbow, a leg, a jaw, or a finger, and the tissue around the damaged joint may be hurt at the same time. In children who have not yet started school, a pulled arm is common: the child will not try to move, with the shoulder and the arm bent at once. After a missed step, a sprain should be suspected. The essay prefers an immediate visit to an orthopaedic clinic for a firm diagnosis; if one is observing, the child is sat down, the leg is made comfortable, and the shoe and sock are taken off before the place swells. To slow the swelling, a towel wet with cold water, or an ice pack, is applied; if the child is in pain the leg is raised and iced; if the pain continues, a fracture is suspected and the child is taken to a hospital. A dislocation, like a sprain, makes it hard to move the joint in the ordinary way, and the swelling and the pain can be worse, so that the hands or feet can hardly be moved; the place is iced, then fixed with a bandage, a triangular bandage, or a sling, and the child is taken at once to a doctor. If a child has fallen from a height and indicates pain in the neck or the back, and a problem in the neck or the spine is suspected, the child is left as they are and 119 is called. To fix the injured place a splint is used, or an unbending object such as an umbrella, including the uninjured joint. The place should not be rubbed, and the posture should not be changed casually. In a dislocation, the joint should not be forced back in, which would strain the ligament and the muscle around it.

A blister that should not be popped, and a dart at a fair

A burn, the essay says, is damage to the skin from heat, a chemical, electricity, radiation, or sunlight, and is divided by the depth of the tissue into first, second, and third degree. A first-degree burn is mild: only the surface of the skin is hurt, the place swells and turns red and is painful, and it is a state that can be treated by oneself. A second-degree burn is moderate: the epidermis and the dermis are hurt, a blister forms, the place swells, the pain is severe, the skin is red and mottled, and a specialist’s diagnosis is needed. A third-degree burn is deep: every layer of the skin is destroyed, and the tissue as far as the muscle and the bone; the nerves are destroyed, so there is almost no pain; the skin is charred like charcoal, dry and pale, and professional treatment is needed. When the pain is severe and the place is swollen, the burn is first cooled with cold water; blisters are not popped, and are left to break on their own; if the pain is severe or an inflammatory reaction worsens, the child is taken to a hospital. If the pain is not severe and the place is not swollen, the burn is cooled with cold water and covered with sterile gauze. If the skin has come off, a market dressing such as Medifoam or Duoderm is used, and if pain appears the child is taken to a hospital for treatment of the burn.

A case at the close is a four-year-old hurt in a dart game at an event, after which the police opened an investigation. Young children, the writer says, can be hurt even by a toy of that kind at a fair. Because they are self-centred and have a narrow field of view, the chance of an accident is high if they are left alone, and a parent should not take their eyes off them, and should be able to respond properly when an accident has happened. A place that offers a toy such as a dart should already have a safety net and a doctor ready for first aid.

The writer’s close is that child accidents increase year by year — left here as the writer’s observation, not as an official current total — not only from a carer’s mistake, but because many new and various stimuli are offered to young children, while the fence and the safety system that might protect them are still short. An accident can happen at home, and also outside, at a fair or a playground. A parent should not take their eyes off a young child, and should be able to help with a proper first aid when a burn, a laceration, a fracture, or another accident has happened, and also when a life is in danger. Swallowing an object and coming close to death, the writer says, can also happen easily, so the Heimlich manoeuvre should be well known, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation should be possible if the child has lost consciousness. The more one knows of first aid, the safer a child can be. The reference named on the page is a 2012 paediatric nursing text by Lee Su-gyeong and others, from Soomoonsa.

Why a 2012 nursing page is kept on this site

A fist just above a navel, a plaster that should wait if a suture is likely, and a dart at a fair are the cases this essay chose to keep together. The same Korean page, at fuller length, is on CampusDown.

Sources

1. Student essay on first aid by situation when a safety accident has happened to an infant or a young child (Korean source page).
2. Methods as the essay sets them out, including the Heimlich manoeuvre, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, wounds, a sprain, a dislocation, a fracture, and burns; a case of a four-year-old hurt in a dart game at an event.
3. Lee Su-gyeong and others, Paediatric Nursing (Soomoonsa, 2012), as cited on the Korean page.

Last updated: 14 November 2026