Every year, millions of people encounter head injury. Most of these injuries are minor and the symptoms usually go away on their own. Learning to recognize a serious head injury & implementing basic first aid can make the difference.

What to do when someone has head injury?

Common causes include accidents, falls & physical assaults.When someone encounters severe head injury, often other organ systems also get injured.

For a mild head injury, no specific treatment may be needed. Very commonly when a child falls while playing and develops a bump on his forehead with no other symptom or sign simply give the cold compression by applying ice packs wrapped in a clean cloth and mild pain killer and closely observe the child for next 24hours.

Call emergency if any of the following signs or symptoms is apparent:

· Severe head or facial bleeding/ Bleeding from the nose or ears

· Severe headache

· Change in level of consciousness for more than a few seconds

· Black-and-blue discoloration below the eyes or behind the ears

· Cessation of breathing

· Confusion

· Repeated vomiting/ Slurring of speech

If the person suffers from moderate to severe head injury take following steps –

1- Call Emergency.

2- Stabilize the head and neck by placing your hands on both sides of the person’s head and prevent any movement till medical help arrives.

3- If there is any bleeding from head stop it by firmly pressing a clean cloth on the wound. If blood soaks through the cloth, do not remove it. Place another cloth over the first one.

4- If you suspect a skull fracture, do not apply direct pressure to the bleeding site, and do not remove any debris from the wound. Cover the wound with sterile gauze dressing.

5- If the person is vomiting, turn the body to one side by rolling the head, neck, and body.

What not to do when someone suffers from head injury?

· Do not wash a head wound that is deep or bleeding a lot.

· Do not move the person unless absolutely necessary.

· Do not shake the person.

· Do not drink alcohol within 48 hours of a head injury.

· Do not give a person who has suffered a severe head injury any food or water.

Prevention of Head Injury

-Always use safety equipment as seat belts while driving/sitting in car and helmets while riding bicycle or motorcycle.

-Obey traffic signals when riding a bicycle.

-Use car seats for babies and young children.

-Make sure that children have a safe area in which to play and always supervise them while playing.

-Never drink and drive.

About Author

Dr. Sunil Garg is a Critical care (ICU) specialist, based in Udaipur. By this article his aim is to create awareness among people how to go about and deal with commonly encountered emergency medical situations till one gets medical help.