Rhode Island Hospital and Hasbro Children’s Hospital Experts Offer Tips To Avoid Scalding Injuries During National Burn Awareness Week

Posted Monday, February 04, 2013

Each year approximately 600,000 people are treated for burn injuries in emergency departments nationwide. A large proportion of these injuries are related to scalding, or burns caused by heated fluids, and most of those with scalds– 75 percent of cases – are children. With the start of National Burn Awareness Week on February 3, experts from Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital are offering reminders and prevention tips to parents and caregivers on the dangers of scald injuries.

This is especially important when you consider that an average of two-thirds of all burns admitted at Hasbro Children’s Hospital were related to scalding injuries, according to data from the Rhode Island Hospital Trauma Registry. This matches up with what happens nationally.

“Because of the proportions of a child’s body, they often have burns over a much larger percentage of their body surface,” said Dina Morrissey, MD, program coordinator for the Injury Prevention Center at Hasbro Children’s Hospital “This means that children can be burned far more extensively.”

But the risk is not only to small children, warned David Harrington, MD, director of the Rhode Island Burn Center at Rhode Island Hospital. “We most often think of babies and toddlers when talking about injuries at bathtime or knocking over hot liquids in the kitchen, but the danger is also present for elderly dependents.”  

Harrington continued, “Both young children and the elderly have thinner skin compared to the average adult, and therefore can burn more quickly and at a lower temperature.”

Harrington and Morrissey offer the following safety tips to help prevent unintentional injuries from scalding:

In the kitchen:

• Always keep pot handles turned inward and use the back burners if possible.

• Encourage the use of oven mitts and potholders to handle hot items.

• Use pan lids to prevent hot liquid spatter and spills on the stove. Use appropriate protective equipment, such as an oven mitt, when removing hot pan lids.

• Be careful when heating liquids or steaming food (popcorn/frozen vegetables) in the microwave.

• Microwaves often heat unevenly, so be sure to stir liquids thoroughly after heating.

• Always supervise young children in the kitchen.

• Never hold a hot beverage while holding a child or caring for a dependent adult.

• Never leave a hot beverage or plate of food unattended or close to edge of a counter or table when a young child is present.

• Avoid the use of tablecloths and placemats. Young children may pull on them, causing a spill of hot liquid.

• Do not use a microwave to heat baby formula.

• Do not allow young children to use a microwave.

At bathtime:

• Make sure your hot water heater is set no higher than 120 degrees F.

• Always check the water temperature before putting a child or dependent adult in the tub.

• Check the temperature of tub or sink water by placing your hand in the water for a full 10 seconds.

• Consider purchasing a bath tub thermometer that will alert you if the water is too hot for a child or dependent adult.

• Never leave a child or dependent adult unattended in the bathtub. Not even for a second.

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