Intervention strategies to reduce unintentional childhood injuries in an urban school district

Children are needlessly suffering from unintentional injuries at an alarming rate. Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death and disability for children ages 1 to 14 in the United States. Injuries have a significant economic impact as well. Aside from the costly emergency department bills these nonfatal injuries are also associated with missed school days, parents work losses, and lifelong disabilities. Injury is the most common health problem treated by school nurses. Prelicensure student nurses placed in schools in an urban school district for their community health course, observed a steady stream of children with minor and serious injuries coming to the nurses office for treatment. The student nurses to further illuminate causes of injuries, assessed classroom and recess activities. It was observed that pushing, shoving, and bullying are accepted and entrenched behaviors in the schools. Additional environmental and social stressors were noted to be contributing to the problem. Most of these injuries can be prevented. The injury and violence prevention objectives in Healthy People 2020 suggest that social environments such as schools can be influential in preventing unintentional injury. Student nurses implemented a school district wide, evidence-based injury prevention program focusing on preventing bullying, playground safety and decreasing fights. Advocacy suggestions were presented to further supplement the intervention strategies. The planning, implementation and evaluation of these programs will be presented.