A social survey of thermal injuries in South Australian children

Abstract

INTRODUCTION AUSTRALIA'S vast area and small population make it difficult to establish where help is most needed for those caring for patients suffering thermal injuries. Australia is almost as large as the USA (excluding Alaska), but has only 7 per cent of its population. The Australian Continent is divided into seven States and South Australia is 4 times the size of the United Kingdom with only 2 per cent of its population, of which 75 per cent live in the capital city of Adelaide and its environs. Darwin in the north is 3200 km from Adelaide in the south, with Alice Springs in the centre. In this vast area the population does not exceed 110 000. The city of Adelaide, situated on the southern coast, has one major children's hospital which has the only children's burns unit in the state and admits seriously ill patients from places as far away as Darwin and Alice Springs. South Australia is the driest state in the driest continent of the world, so there are large areas which are sparcely populated with a rainfall of only a few inches a year. Getting seriously injured people to hospital from these areas can be a problem where time, as with the burned patient, is all important. Most of the state's rain falls along the southern coastal areas, where the rainfall is approximately 20 in a year, and this is where a large section of the rural population lives. In conjunction with the Flying Doctor Service in Australia, South Australia has formed its own Retrieval Team, which comprises a road and air ambulance service with a team of skilled doctors and nurses to go out and bring the critically ill patient to hospital, enabling the patient to have specialized treatment during the long journey. South Australia has a sub-committee of the NSC called the CHSAC and one of the responsibilities of this committee is to educate people on the prevention of thermal injuries by giving lectures, demonstrations and showing films. It was not difficult to meet these responsibilities in the city, but pleas for help and advice kept coming from isolated country areas. I therefore undertook a survey of all children suffering from thermal injuries admitted to hospitals in South Australia. Injuries of a lesser nature are admitted to local country hospitals and are attended to by the family doctor. By doing this we hoped to determine the extent of the problem in the country areas and see whether efforts aimed at burn prevention would be worth while.