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"Small and shiny, button batteries can cause significant harm to children" Military Health System in Washington, D.C., United States
Button batteries, which are made of lithium, alkaline, or silver oxide, are small and inviting to children, but swallowing one can lead to serious and sometimes life-threatening consequences. by: Military Health System Communications Office
An often overlooked danger hides among the festive holiday decorations, new toys, and everyday household items. Small in size and shiny in appearance, button or disc batteries power various objects that are often left within reach of children and infants. These batteries can seem appealing to curious youngsters, but if they’re swallowed, holiday joy can turn to terror in an instant.
Dr. Timothy Barron, chief of emergency medicine at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in northern Virginia, said he sees at least three cases of children swallowing button batteries each year – most of which occur around the holidays. Ingesting button batteries, which are made of lithium, alkaline, or silver oxide, can lead to serious and sometimes life-threatening consequences.
“As toys continue to get smaller, it’s important to be mindful of the dangers these batteries can impose on families,” said Barron. “When they come out, they’re the size of a skittle or less. A kid doesn’t know any better than to go, ‘Oh, what’s this?’ and it’s shiny and it’s metal and they throw it in their mouth.”
These batteries can be found in a number of everyday household items and small toys, such as games, calculators, holiday ornaments, greeting cards, remote controls, and key fobs. The batteries are often stacked two or three per item, don’t live long, and can easily fall out, said Barron.
Since the esophagus is not equipped to handle a high level of acid, the situation can become serious quickly, said Barron. If it sits in the esophagus for even a little bit of time, the battery starts to erode, making the tube swell. Swelling can prevent the battery from progressing to the stomach and cause it to embed in the area, almost like a tick, he added. When it embeds into that tissue, it’ll continue to erode and burn, possibly making a hole in the esophagus.
“It can be taken care of quickly, but it is a significant life threat because if you have any erosion through the esophagus, the tissues in and around your heart, lungs, and great vessels get inflamed, and that is a significant threat,” said Barron. If a hole appears in the esophagus, children may have to endure surgery, feeding tubes, or other corrective processes. “Our kids are the healthiest people on the planet. If batteries can cause that kind of damage to them, this is a huge worry.”
Swelling from button batteries can be painful and cause children to stop eating or drinking because of pain, said Barron. If the batteries are swallowed and pass through to the stomach without getting stuck, children are usually able to pass them through and excrete them without issue or long-term consequences, he added. This is because the stomach is equipped to handle high levels of acid.
“Once it’s through to the stomach, we’ll still watch them and ask parents to monitor their stool for the next 24-48 hours, and bring them back in a timely fashion to x-ray them again and make sure it has passed,” said Barron.
If a child swallows a button battery, Barron encourages parents to immediately seek medical attention at the closest emergency department. The Military Health System’s Nurse Advice Line is also available 24/7 as a source of information on urgent care needs. Actively watching children as they play with new toys and household items, keeping batteries out of reach, and making sure batteries are discarded immediately and properly is highly recommended, said Barron.
“What appears to be an everyday item can be incredibly dangerous,” said Barron.
Read More ...
An often overlooked danger hides among the festive holiday decorations, new toys, and everyday household items. Small in size and shiny in appearance, button or disc batteries power various objects that are often left within reach of children and infants. These batteries can seem appealing to curious youngsters, but if they’re swallowed, holiday joy can turn to terror in an instant.
Dr. Timothy Barron, chief of emergency medicine at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in northern Virginia, said he sees at least three cases of children swallowing button batteries each year – most of which occur around the holidays. Ingesting button batteries, which are made of lithium, alkaline, or silver oxide, can lead to serious and sometimes life-threatening consequences.
“As toys continue to get smaller, it’s important to be mindful of the dangers these batteries can impose on families,” said Barron. “When they come out, they’re the size of a skittle or less. A kid doesn’t know any better than to go, ‘Oh, what’s this?’ and it’s shiny and it’s metal and they throw it in their mouth.”
These batteries can be found in a number of everyday household items and small toys, such as games, calculators, holiday ornaments, greeting cards, remote controls, and key fobs. The batteries are often stacked two or three per item, don’t live long, and can easily fall out, said Barron.
Since the esophagus is not equipped to handle a high level of acid, the situation can become serious quickly, said Barron. If it sits in the esophagus for even a little bit of time, the battery starts to erode, making the tube swell. Swelling can prevent the battery from progressing to the stomach and cause it to embed in the area, almost like a tick, he added. When it embeds into that tissue, it’ll continue to erode and burn, possibly making a hole in the esophagus.
“It can be taken care of quickly, but it is a significant life threat because if you have any erosion through the esophagus, the tissues in and around your heart, lungs, and great vessels get inflamed, and that is a significant threat,” said Barron. If a hole appears in the esophagus, children may have to endure surgery, feeding tubes, or other corrective processes. “Our kids are the healthiest people on the planet. If batteries can cause that kind of damage to them, this is a huge worry.”
Swelling from button batteries can be painful and cause children to stop eating or drinking because of pain, said Barron. If the batteries are swallowed and pass through to the stomach without getting stuck, children are usually able to pass them through and excrete them without issue or long-term consequences, he added. This is because the stomach is equipped to handle high levels of acid.
“Once it’s through to the stomach, we’ll still watch them and ask parents to monitor their stool for the next 24-48 hours, and bring them back in a timely fashion to x-ray them again and make sure it has passed,” said Barron.
If a child swallows a button battery, Barron encourages parents to immediately seek medical attention at the closest emergency department. The Military Health System’s Nurse Advice Line is also available 24/7 as a source of information on urgent care needs. Actively watching children as they play with new toys and household items, keeping batteries out of reach, and making sure batteries are discarded immediately and properly is highly recommended, said Barron.
“What appears to be an everyday item can be incredibly dangerous,” said Barron.
Read More ...
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Blue light produced by smartphones and computer monitors interferes with the brain’s production of melatonin, the hormone that makes people sleepy. The Navy’s Bureau of Medicine is working on lens tinting to block blue light and enhance the sleep of service members. MHS announced this innovation among many others in 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Greg L. Davis) by: Military Health System Communications Office
Here’s a review of some innovations in 2017 that provided continued momentum for the Military Health System’s mission of a medically ready force and ready medical force:
Single electronic health record. MHS GENESIS is the first major upgrade to military health documentation in more than a decade. It launched in February and was deployed to four initial fielding sites in the Pacific Northwest by December: Fairchild Air Force Base, Naval Hospitals Oak Harbor and Bremerton, and Madigan Army Medical Center.
The agile and responsive system, designed to offer “seamless health care,” enables a single electronic health record for each of the 9.4 million DoD beneficiaries. MHS GENESIS will continue to roll out through 2022 to all military clinics and hospitals.
Beneficiaries are “the most important reason all of us are gathered here today,” Tom McCaffery, acting assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, said during a launch celebration in mid-November. “This electronic health record will help us support and advance” health care.
Good night’s sleep. With sleep deprivation a significant and well-documented issue for service members, the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine is working on a tinted lens that can block blue light.
Blue light interferes with the brain’s production of melatonin, the hormone that makes people sleepy. Blue light comes from natural and artificial sources including computers, tablets, cellphones, and overhead lighting, said Navy Cmdr. Marc Herwitz, chief ancillary informatics officer for BUMED.
“Sleep is one of those hubs in the wheel of health,” said Diana Jeffery, a health psychologist and health care research analyst with the Defense Health Agency. “Without sleep, you impair mental health, cognitive functions, and decision-making skills. There are very few health functions that don’t require sleep.”
A preliminary study of the tinted lenses found that people who wore them two hours before bedtime fell asleep about 30 percent faster than those who didn’t.
More comfort and mobility. MHS and civilian researchers are collaborating on an advanced alternative to socket-based prosthetics. Osseointegration, a process that attaches the prosthesis directly to the skeleton, can improve comfort and mobility for qualified patients with amputations.
“Developing osseointegration as a capability within DoD makes good on our commitment to provide world-class solutions for combat casualties throughout the entire spectrum of care,” said Navy Cmdr. Jonathan A. Forsberg, an orthopedic oncologist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and an investigator at the Naval Medical Research Center.
An osseointegration clinical trial at Walter Reed is the first of its kind to be performed in the United States.
Best possible outcome. With the goal of producing the best possible outcome for wounded warriors, senior leaders across MHS coordinated with the Joint Staff on DoD Instruction 6040.47. The instruction provides operational commanders, clinical providers, and medical planners with the best known combat medical techniques and procedures to minimize trauma-related disability and eliminate preventable deaths after injury. It also officially recognizes the Joint Trauma System as the DoD Center of Excellence for Trauma, and supports combatant commands establishing regional and individual combatant command trauma systems.
“For the first time in U.S. military history, we have the necessary policy to create and maintain a durable, enduring trauma system in times of war and peace,” said Dr. David Smith, now the reform leader for health care management for DoD.
Read More ...
Questions for MHS?
Here’s a review of some innovations in 2017 that provided continued momentum for the Military Health System’s mission of a medically ready force and ready medical force:
Single electronic health record. MHS GENESIS is the first major upgrade to military health documentation in more than a decade. It launched in February and was deployed to four initial fielding sites in the Pacific Northwest by December: Fairchild Air Force Base, Naval Hospitals Oak Harbor and Bremerton, and Madigan Army Medical Center.
The agile and responsive system, designed to offer “seamless health care,” enables a single electronic health record for each of the 9.4 million DoD beneficiaries. MHS GENESIS will continue to roll out through 2022 to all military clinics and hospitals.
Beneficiaries are “the most important reason all of us are gathered here today,” Tom McCaffery, acting assistant secretary of Defense for health affairs, said during a launch celebration in mid-November. “This electronic health record will help us support and advance” health care.
Good night’s sleep. With sleep deprivation a significant and well-documented issue for service members, the Navy’s Bureau of Medicine is working on a tinted lens that can block blue light.
Blue light interferes with the brain’s production of melatonin, the hormone that makes people sleepy. Blue light comes from natural and artificial sources including computers, tablets, cellphones, and overhead lighting, said Navy Cmdr. Marc Herwitz, chief ancillary informatics officer for BUMED.
“Sleep is one of those hubs in the wheel of health,” said Diana Jeffery, a health psychologist and health care research analyst with the Defense Health Agency. “Without sleep, you impair mental health, cognitive functions, and decision-making skills. There are very few health functions that don’t require sleep.”
A preliminary study of the tinted lenses found that people who wore them two hours before bedtime fell asleep about 30 percent faster than those who didn’t.
More comfort and mobility. MHS and civilian researchers are collaborating on an advanced alternative to socket-based prosthetics. Osseointegration, a process that attaches the prosthesis directly to the skeleton, can improve comfort and mobility for qualified patients with amputations.
“Developing osseointegration as a capability within DoD makes good on our commitment to provide world-class solutions for combat casualties throughout the entire spectrum of care,” said Navy Cmdr. Jonathan A. Forsberg, an orthopedic oncologist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and an investigator at the Naval Medical Research Center.
An osseointegration clinical trial at Walter Reed is the first of its kind to be performed in the United States.
Best possible outcome. With the goal of producing the best possible outcome for wounded warriors, senior leaders across MHS coordinated with the Joint Staff on DoD Instruction 6040.47. The instruction provides operational commanders, clinical providers, and medical planners with the best known combat medical techniques and procedures to minimize trauma-related disability and eliminate preventable deaths after injury. It also officially recognizes the Joint Trauma System as the DoD Center of Excellence for Trauma, and supports combatant commands establishing regional and individual combatant command trauma systems.
“For the first time in U.S. military history, we have the necessary policy to create and maintain a durable, enduring trauma system in times of war and peace,” said Dr. David Smith, now the reform leader for health care management for DoD.
Read More ...
Questions for MHS?
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