Head Injury - First Aid Treatment
Head injuries can occur very easily by a blow to the head, through falling, car accidents, or by being hit on the head, you can even damage the brain by falling and landing on your feet, as the impact can transfer up your body and damage the base of the brain.
There are different types of head injury.
CONCUSSION - where the brain is shaken
COMPRESSION - where there is pressure on the brain caused by swelling or bleeding, fractures due to direct or indirect force.
FRACTURE - where the skull is cracked
Patients with head injuries do not always lose consciousness although this is common.
Signs and Symptoms
- Headache
- Nausea
- watery blood coming from the ears and nose
- Sickness
- Dizziness
- Confusion
- Personality change
- Difficulty speaking
- Pain
- Numbness
Head Injuries must be checked by medical professionals.
What to do
All are treated the same way and the way to remember is the pneumonic RICE
- Recognise and Activate EMS
- Manually stabilise the head and spine
- Check and correct Airway, Breathing and Circulation.
Patients with head injuries do not always lose consciousness although this is common. Try to deal with any serious bleed that may occur as a result of the injury.
What not to do
Break the RICE procedure as this will cause more pain and damage.
Try to get the patient to lie down and keep the airway open and if possible support the head and neck in case of spinal injury. A recognised scale for assessing if someone is unconsciousness is the AVPU scale:
A – Alert: Are they alert?
V – Voice: Do they respond to voice?
P – Pain: DO they respond to pain?
U – Unresponsive? Patient is unconscious
A brain hemorrhage is bleeding in or around the brain, which may be caused by a traumatic brain injury (TBI). It may also happen spontaneously as a result of a ruptured aneurysm, which is a form of stroke, also known as a haemorrhagic stroke.
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