Children's Burned Hands Inspire Design of Safety Device for Clothing Irons
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At team of surgeons and chemical engineers from the University of Rochester has designed a device to end the steady stream of five-and-under children who arrive at the hospital with hands burned by clothing irons. Their just-published research results on the new “iron shoe” argue that it could considerably improve home safety.
About once a month, and 212 times since 2003, a child comes into the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Strong Regional Burn Center with a contact burn from a clothing iron. They tend to come from lower income families where the ironing is more likely to be done on the bed or floor than on an ironing board. The typical burn is second degree on children who have touched the iron with their fingers, and third degree if the child has yanked on the cord, causing the iron to land and remain on the back of the hand. According to a 2006 study published in the American Journal of Behavioral Health, about 78,000 U.S. infants and toddlers are treated in ambulatory care settings each year for contact burns from a hot object or substance, with clothing irons among the leading causes.
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Wednesday 17 December, 2008 01:41 PM |
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