to think that this was handled all wrong? (Hot water burn)

[MosesLee]

Was in a restaurant with my cousin earlier and witnessed a waitress drop a whole mug of hot water (green tea) down a little girl. Of course by accident.

Girl was in agony. Screaming and shaking with a scalded arm. Nobody ran her arm under cold water and they just applied dressings to it.

Someone went over and told them 'you need to run that under cold water for at least 20 minutes before putting any dressings on' - the staff looked as though they ignored her and kept putting dressings on.

I then went over and told them 'she's really right you know you need to get her arm under a cold tap' - I was told no, that the dressings were for burns and a cold tap wouldn't do anything.

Worrying that staff who work with kitchen staff and hot food and water don't know how to treat a burn.

Paramedics turned up eventually and immediately started dousing her in hot water after removing the dressings (very quickly)

Not sure where I'm going with this buy I guess I need to know if IABU in thinking that a burn SHOULD be treated with cold water, and that I wasn't just interfering? They seemed pretty pissed off with me when I went over to suggest this to them. It was with good intent however.

Hope the poor little girl is alright...

*cold water not hot water!

You and the other customer would have been better of if one of you had a cold water jug took control and pour cold water on the burnt girl. Just because someone works in a place doesn't mean they know the basics of first aid.

@BlueBug45 I felt awful for her and that I should've done more but her parents were there and everyone was panicking and whilst I was extremely calm I was ushered away and basically prevented from helping. I had no water to put over her but it would've felt strange and wrong doing so as the parents looked angry at me for trying to help. Maybe I should've done more. Her arm looked incredibly sore.

Amazes me that people STILL don’t know that if you have a burn/scald you should run it under cold water immediately!

@Aintnothingbutaheartache I was literally so helpless. A glass of water would've done nothing. She needed to be taken in to the bathroom and put under a cold tap for 20 minutes. I was hardly going to pick up someone else's child and do this but I feel guilty for not being more persistent. It was horrid. Just watching them do it all wrong. I feel really guilty and seriously hope she's okay.

. Good God YANBU. You're 100% correct. You are supposed to treat burns with cold water. That poor little lamb, bless her. Accident or not I bet her parents are rightly furious and very shaken up. I can't believe they put hot water on burns. Do they not have first year Aid and Safe guard training. I think they're going to find themselves in serious trouble over this.
I was scalded when I was 3. I'm 42 now but I remember it as clear as if it were yesterday. My mum was boiling an egg and I ran over and said "Mummy, what are you doing and The boiling water just poured on to my face. My mum put a cold compress on me. The Hospital told her had she not done that there was a high chance I could have been scarred for life.

@Awwlookatmybabyspider they didn't that was my typo! They eventually put cold water on it! Sorry, I did correct my initial post.

@Awwlookatmybabyspider but still, it took 45 mins for paramedics to get there, it was bad enough to call an ambulance and they still hadn't put anything on it to cool it.

I was starting to question whether guidelines had changed...

45 minutes. Shocking and disgraceful doesn't even begin to cover it. Mind you that's the Tory Government for you with all these cuts to vital services.

Yep! Sadly that's normal in a busy city on a Saturday afternoon when the weather is nice. I also blame people who can't handle their booze and use ambulances as taxis!

I've burnt myself so many times thankfully never seriously but each time the urge to put the burn under cold water was overwhelming!

My son banged his head in a play centre and had a huge egg on his forehead
The staff were great, they had a cold compress on his head within seconds
Then a customer charged over saying that you should never apply cold or ice to the head after a bump. The first aid training I had always said cold compress
Has this changed?

OP you would have been right and would have helped her if you had the water regardless. I have two relations with scars on their body from hot water burns from young childhood so have always known about cold water.

Oh and the restaurant owner will now be in trouble for any scars the girl has. So I suspect some of the staff will now be sent on a First Aid course.

Also while green tea is suppose to be hot it shouldn't be boiling. I've noticed in most restaurants that serve it they make it with boiling water instead of hot water.

Could it have been a water gel dressing? You put the cooling gel on then put the dressing on top, then top up the gel. It's very effective.

@mickeyanonymouse I've had training recently re using these gels but again was told that cold water is ALWAYS first point of call. Gels and dressings can go in after. Unless guidelines have changed in the last month or so...

About 4 years ago,I had a mishap with a hot pot of tea in a Tesco's cafe. I somehow managed to slop boiling water all over my hand at the counter. The member of staff behind the counter saw what happened,came round and quickly ushered me into the kitchen at the back,stuck my hand under the cold tap,and told me to stay there for 10 minutes! He'd obviously been taught the correct procedure.

@OkPedro you are suppose to check for alertness first then if they are ok you can use a cold compress. Most child care/activity places have someone with up to date first aid training.

They didn’t act correctly. I hope the little girl is recovering ok.

So as this doesn’t get brushed under the carpet and happen again, contact the resturaunt manager/ head office (in writing ) asking what measures they will now take to update/train their staff in first aid.

I actually don’t know if their is a statutory duty upon a private business to ensure staff are trained, but a customer complaint could give them the impetus.

@KatieKittens I'm definitely going to write to them! The poor girl was in agony.

@Awwlookatmybabyspider - a burn in a restaurant should be able to have been treated by someone in that place who has had first aid training so isn't a high priority for paramedics/ambulance service. The fact that the staff were useless and had no first aid training is the biggest problem here.

Cold water, yes. Ice, no. Ice can freeze tissue and actually cause additional damage.

You're quite correct in that dressings really shouldn't have been applied. Cold water is always the first step to treating a burn. You need to stop the cooking process first. This is also why you should NEVER put butter on a burn and save the ointments until AFTER the burn is cool - grease will seal in the heat.

Thanks bluebug
He was checked when I picked him up off the floor
He was alert and screaming
I have always watched out for vomiting and any change in pupil size when my dc have banged their head

OP you could see if the local environmental health of the restaurant are interested in what you saw.

dd2 currently has severe burns on both legs (under medical care and keeping fingers crossed to stave off infection, changing dressings and applying burn meds twice daily, back to doc on Tuesday unless any drama before) - she was at a camp. They applied a milk compress and (struggles with stupidity) decided to use a safety pin to drain blisters the size of apples).
Sadly, this does not surprise me.

The only advice that has changed is to make sure the water isn’t freezing cold, to avoid tissue damage from the cold on top of the burns.

My ds was badly scalded by a babysitter who left my little boy screaming with hot water soaked into his clothes and still in contact with his skin, whilst tending to his own slight burn on his hand by running under a cold tap.

Thank God I was still in the house and heard the screams, came running to the bathroom to be confronted with that delightful scene... lucky I was there to push my poor boy into the shower where he stayed for the next 40minutes.

He was burnt from up in his armpit all the way down his side, through and past his hip and bottom and onto his thigh, in a thick strip about 4-5 inches wide at least. But hey, tend to your tiny little hand scalding and leave my son still burning why don’t you?!???

His excuse was that he didn’t realise it would still be burning ds, and that he himself needed to think calmer which he would if he wasn’t in pain!

DS narrowly avoided plastic surgery. And now you can’t even see a scar unless you know where to look. Thank God.

The nurse told me it was because of my quick action getting him in the shower, which was sweet of her because all I could see was the seconds wasted by the selfish wanker, rather than the seconds saved by me & ds. I include ds as he knew what to do too, but being 7 and burning, he needed a grownup... but he jumped in that shower so darned quick.

And I had to force him out in the end, as he was getting too cold, because all he knew was scalds = cold water and obviously didn’t know anything about hyperthermia!

The days after with ds screaming because The Air hurt his burns. Even sitting down quickly next to him hurt because of the air disturbances. And having to keep him warm without him being able to tolerate any clothes or blankets on half his body, and needing cold packs on those burns when it became safe to put them on the skin (through a clingfilm layer)...

God I’m still really shaky about it. It’s amazing that he walked away with so little lasting damage. And they bounce back so well, he was ‘properly ill’ for about 3-4 days, then just hopping around the house naked for a couple more days, then uttered bored stuff of the whole thing :)

I hope that little girl in the restaurant is the same, though tbh

I'm surprised no one was told to put her arm under water after they called 999 and whilst waiting for the paramedics to come as they usually provide some brief medical advice over the phone in the interim. That poor little girl.