Health Assessment of the Preschool Child (Essay Sample)

Health Assessment of the Preschool Child Name Institution Health Assessment of the Preschool Child Preschool children are those children between the ages of three years to five or six years (Jarvis, 2012). Children in this age group are at high risks for many unintentional injuries owing to their curiosity to explore their environment. Consequently, a great number of preschool children suffer from fatal or nonfatal injuries or illnesses resulting from drowning, poisoning, falls and recreational injuries (Jarvis, 2012). According to Xu, drowning is the leading cause of unintentional injury among children in preschool age (2014). Since their physical coordination is immature, when they venture into swimming pools they are submerged and hence cannot breathe leading to death. To prevent this, children and parents should be availed with water safety education and children should always be accompanied to swimming pools. Unintentional poisoning occurs when children sample pills or swallow other medication. Parents should keep medication out of reach of children and if a child has ingested medicine or any poison, the parent should seek medication. Furthermore, parents should be taught on how to assess cases of poisoning and how to carry out first aid before seeking a physician (Jarvis, 2012). Recreational injuries are also common among preschool children. Although deaths resulting from participating in sports and recreation activities are few, traumatic brain injuries, neck, spine and joint injuries whose effects are lifelong usually result (Gilchrist, Saluja & Marshall, 2007). In addition to that, falls from playground equipment are common occurrences. This is especially the case because cognitive abilities of preschool children ha...