Equipment For Children Research Articles

Bathing equipment for children and adolescents with special needs: 1

This article is the first of two articles which look at a variety of static bathing equipment available for use with children and adolescents. It focuses on equipment supplied from two companies regularly used by clinicians. Components, accessories, adjustability and advantages and disadvantages of each piece of equipment are discussed.

Current activites in the field of child safety within CEN aand ISO

Many countries have implemented safety and performance requirements for children's products. There is, however, a need to harmonize existing legislation and standards to facilitate a uniform flow of trade. At the same time, it is essential to extend existing requirements to restrict certain hazards which have not been covered in the past. In CEN, the European Committee for standardization, several technical committees are developing European Standards for products to be used by or for children. On a global level as well, within ISO, there are standardization projects covering such products. Child safety is the main objective for the standardization work on: •Safety of toys (CENATC 52, ISO/TC 181) • Child use and care articles (CEN/TC 252) •Playground equipment for children LCEN/TC 136/SC 1) • Children's furniture (CEN/TC 207, ISO/TC 136( •Child-resistant packaging (CEN/TC 261/SC 2, ISO/TC 122) Children's products constitute a group of consumer products with large variations between the different products. Nevertheless, since they all come in contact with children (and their parents), several hazards associated with these products are similar for the various products. This is reflected in the work of CEN/TC 252, Child use and care articles, established in 1990. To establish a horizontal framework for the hazard-based approach, CEN/ TC 252 created a working group with the task to specify general and common safety requirements (WG 6). Five working groups started the elaboration of product standards in parallel. The traditional concept of a standardization project was found inadequate and other solutions were sought. Finally, it was decided to combine the results from working group 6 into one guidance document, to be published as a CEN Report.

Safety of surfaces and equipment for children in playgrounds

The safety of playgrounds is important to protect children from injury, but studies are mostly done mainly under laboratory conditions without epidemiological data. We investigated the safety of different playground surfaces, and types and heights of equipment in public playgrounds in the City of Cardiff, UK. We did a correlational study of 330 children aged between 0 and 14 years. All children were hurt when playing in playgrounds in Cardiff and presented to the Accident and Emergency Department in Cardiff Royal Infirmary during summer (April to September) 1992 and 1993, and the whole of 1994. We studied the children's hospital records to establish the type of injury and interviewed their parents to find out the playground and type of equipment involved. The main outcome measures were the number of children injured whilst playing, and injury rates per observed number of children on different surfaces, types, and heights of equipment. Children sustained significantly more injuries in playgrounds with concrete surfaces than in those with bark or rubberised surfaces (p < 0.001). Playgrounds with rubber surfaces had the lowest rate of injury, with a risk half that of bark and a fifth of that of concrete. Bark surfaces were not significantly more protective against arm fractures than concrete. Most injuries were equipment related. Injury risk due to falls from monkey bars (suspended parallel bars or rings between which children swing) was twice that for climbing-frames and seven times that for swings or slides. The height of the equipment correlated significantly with the number of fractures (p = 0.005) from falls. Rubber or bark surfacing is associated with a low rate of injuries and we support their use in all public playgrounds. Bark alone is insufficient, however, to prevent all injuries, particularly arm fractures. Rubberised impact-absorbing surfaces are safer than bark. We believe that playing on monkeys bars increases the risk of injury in playgrounds and that they should generally not be installed. Safety standards should be based on physical and epidemiological data. Our data suggest that the proposed raising of the maximum fall height from 2.5 m to 3.0 m in Europe is worrying.

Bathroom and toilet equipment for children

Personal hygiene tasks are unavoidable, but are sometimes made extremely difficult due to disability. Total independence may not always be possible, but tasks can be made easier and safer by using appropriately designed equipment. This article looks at the range of equipment used to support children for washing and toileting activities.

Transcranial Doppler Using Standard Duplex Equipment in Children

Summary Transfontanelle duplex Doppler ultrasound is widely used in the neonatal period to evaluate abnormalities of cerebral flow in infants with asphyxia, cerebral edema, patent ductus arteriosus, hydrocephalus, and arteriovenous malformations. Three other portals for evaluation of cerebral flow in older children after the fontanelle has closed are also available: (a) transophthalmic imaging of the ophthalmic artery and internal carotid; (b) transtemporal imaging of the anterior, middle, posterior, and basilar circulation; and (c) use of the foramen magnum as a window to view the posterior, basilar, and vertebral circulation. The technique, safety, efficacy, and equipment available for both the transfontanelle and the transcranial approaches are discussed. Transcranial Doppler in three specific groups of children is proving useful: (a) measuring the resistive index in patients with shunts and following the patient for possible shunt malfunction by detecting a decrease in the diastolic flow and an increase in the resistive index as intracranial pressure increases; (b) evaluating abnormal flow in patients with cerebral vascular disease in sickle cell anemia; and (c) determinating cerebral edema and brain death in patients post-trauma or significant cerebral insult by detecting a reversal of diastolic flow.

Space Utilization: Criteria for the Selection of Playground Equipment for Children

Abstract Kindergarten boys (N = 12) played in three pieces of nonmoving equipment: wooden pilings, horizontal bars, and a geodesic dome. Movement was measured by use of the spatial dimensions of range, direction, and level and by bases of support as the body factor to determine which piece produced the greatest variety in each dimension and in bases of support. Photographic slides of the 12 subjects, in groups of four, were taken simultaneously by four Nikon motorized F-36 cameras at 5-sec intervals while they moved on the equipment. A flatbed coordinate digitizer plotted the movements of the body parts from raw images into an accurate two-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. Computer programs transformed data into a three-dimensional system from which measurements were taken. Data was analyzed by using a three-factor repeated measure ANOVA, binomial proportions tests, Scheffes' tests, Kendall correlation, Wilcoxin T, and chi square. Results were significant at the .05 level and above. The bars elicit...

Equipment for Children in Plaster

Equipment for Children in Plaster