School Injuries among Preparatory School Students in EL-Mansoura District and The Role of Family Physician in Their Management

Introduction: Accidents and injuries are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in school-aged children. About 20–30% of all injuries in children of school age occur at school. Although many of these injuries are minor cuts and bruises that heal quickly, significant numbers are quite serious. School injuries may result in absence from school, restricted activity, hospitalization, disability, and even death. Objectives:1) To identify the pattern of school injury among preparatory school students in EL-Mansoura district,Dakhlia Governorate and 2) To determine personal and environmental risk factors associated with school injuries. Study design and setting: A cross sectional study during the school year 2010-2011was conducted in 6 randomly selected governmental preparatory schools in EL-Mansoura District Subjects and methods: A representative sample of 219 students was selected randomly; where a pre-constructed questionnaire was used. Aso, school safety checklist was used to check safety conditions of the studied schools. Results:the current study revealed that injury was reported by about 32.0% of the studied students. The most common places of injury were the playground (44.3%) and the street (31.4%). The majority of the reported injuries occurred in the main break time (37.2%) and during coming from or going to school (31.4%). Lower limbs (40.0%) followed by upper limbs (25.7%) were the commonest anatomical sites of injury. The majority of the reported injuries were unintentional (84.3 %). Superficial wound (35.7%) was the commonest type of injury. Falls (47.1%), followed by motor vehicle accidents (21.4%) were the commonest reported mechanisms of injury. School clinic (41.1%) and home (31.4%) were the commonest reported places of injury treatment. The majority of the injured students (67.1%) missed one school day and reported complete cure after injury (80.0%). Students in the first grade (42.5%) reported school injuries more than students in the second and third grade (26.7%). The studied school students who had one or more of medical problems (54.6%) significantly reported school injuries more than those without medical problems (13.9%).The percentage of the studied school students with history of school injury (44.5%) in the unsafe schools was significantly higher compared to that of the studied school students with history of injury in the schools with safe environment (19.3%). Conclusions:school injuries represent a significant health problem among preparatory school students of El-Mansoura District. So, it was recommended to set an injury reporting system and a national program for school injury prevention.