Helmets and Sunscreen: ‘Battles worth Fighting,’ Advice from a Pediatric ER Doc

Welcome to Pediatrics Now, brought to you by the Department of Pediatrics at UT Health San Antonio. I'm your host, Holly Wayment, and today we have a special guest, Dr. Priyanka Kandhal  an emergency medicine doctor at the level University Hospital's level one trauma centers, specializing in both pediatrics and adult care.

In this episode, she shares invaluable insights on the importance of wearing helmets for children engaged in biking, scootering, and skateboarding. Dr. Kandhal highlights how these protective measures can mean the difference between life and death or prevent debilitating injuries.

We also discuss the often-overlooked necessity of sun protection for kids. 

Join us for an informative conversation filled with practical advice to keep your children safe and healthy from this doctor on the front lines. Don't forget to visit pediatricsnowforparents.com and subscribe to Pediatrics Now wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It's been interesting having the perspective of being a pediatrician and then
transferring that to my own child.
Yes, I can only imagine.
I'm Holly Wayment, and this is Pediatrics Now.
And I'm thrilled today because joining me here in the podcast studio is Dr. Priyanka Kondal.

(00:21):
She is an emergency medicine doctor who focuses on kids and adults.
Results. Dr. Kondal, it's such an honor to talk to you today.
Thank you for everything you're doing for children. Thank you so much for being
here today in the podcast studio. Thanks so much for having me.
So you did your med school at Medical College of Georgia and then residency

(00:44):
at University of Maryland.
And along the way, you knew you wanted to help have that feeling of,
hey, I helped someone today?
Yeah, definitely. I went through medical school knowing I really loved kids
and decided to end up pursuing a combined residency in emergency medicine and pediatrics.

(01:05):
Kind of got a little bit of that quick gratification and feeling like I helped
people that day and still pursuing my love of children.
Bike accidents. I have a teenage son. I have three teenagers actually now.
And while I think my youngest daughter wears her helmet always while riding, my son does not.

(01:28):
And bike accidents can mean the difference between life and death,
whether you're wearing a helmet.
It absolutely i think whether it's bikes
or scooters or skateboards or any of
we see a lot of accidents during the summer because of course kids
are not in school and protective equipment i think especially at a certain age

(01:49):
is not cool perhaps but from my perspective it is always cool yes how can we
make it cool again it's so it's it's so important yeah and and i think for for For one thing,
I've heard kids tell me like, oh, I wasn't wearing my helmet.
I'm really good at riding my bike.
And the issue is not whether you're good at riding your bike in the same way

(02:11):
that when you're driving the car, it's not about how good of a driver you are.
It's about how everyone else is on the road.
So you can have someone else come bump into you or there can be just a rock
on the road that you hit or a car can hit the bike.
So I think emphasizing to kids that it's not about how good at the activity
that they are. It's about all the other circumstances.

(02:34):
And especially for head injuries, you know, we talk about life and death, but also the.
Debilitating brain injuries that will impact the rest of someone's life.
And those can be really, really devastating.
A bad head injury can be really, really devastating and it doesn't take much.
So I try and make sure that whenever I see someone, especially for any sort

(02:59):
of injury, I fell and I broke my arm while I was riding a bike.
It's a good opportunity to talk about helmets too, too even if they didn't get
a head injury that time because I think people are more apt to listen at those
periods where there's maybe a near miss yes and I was riding my bike the other.
Evening before it was dark and it was and I came upon this man who had fallen

(03:22):
he was not moving he was on top of his bike and he was I helped him up of course
and helped him and he was had you know skinned elbow and was dizzy but he basically
and I asked if he had a head injury and we got off to at the side.
And he pointed to where he hit his head on the helmet if he had not.
I mean, going really fast on a road bike, if he had not had his helmet on,

(03:45):
I know it would have been so different.
And he said this little tiny dog just came out of nowhere and ran like right
in front of the wheel. No one would expect that, right? Absolutely.
That's exactly the sort of thing that can happen to any sort of well-seasoned
bicycler or whatever the sport is.
So you just You can't have 100% control of your surroundings,

(04:08):
even if you are the best biker in the world.
And I don't see a lot of skateboarders with helmets on, kids on skateboards
with helmets on the street, maybe at the skate park. But what are your thoughts there?
Encourage it is i i'm all for encouraging it
i think you're typically not going quite as fast on a skateboard as
you are on a bike so maybe slightly lower risk but

(04:30):
it's not zero yeah and there's and you can't
there's no brakes exactly and and you it's not necessarily about the speed although
that certainly increases the risk you can fall badly i mean you can fall badly
from standing realistically but the faster you're going and depending on what
the surface is there's so many other factors. Yes.

(04:51):
Anything else about helmets and safety there you want to mention?
I think those electric scooters that people ride around is another one that
people don't think about, but certainly you see plenty of people on those without helmets.
And though we see a lot of bad scooter accidents, so not just for recreation,
but even just getting around when you rent those downtown or the rent electric bikes,

(05:17):
all those sorts of things are also high risk. So I recommend helmets for all of the above.
Okay. That's great advice and great to mention. Anything else you'd like to talk about?
I think it's always good to do a sunscreen reminder, especially when kids are
outside and it's very, very sunny.
We definitely see a lot of sunburns and sunburn.

(05:38):
Most sunburns are relatively minor and not something I'm so worried about,
but there are increased skin cancer risk, the more sunburn you get.
And certain populations are really high risk for skin cancer.
So maybe not an immediate problem, but something far down the line.
So I think it's always nice to remember to put that sunscreen on.
Yes, that's a great point, which also like wearing a hat and sunscreen,

(06:01):
apparently that's not cool if you're a teenager.
So it's like, but these are the battles we need to fight and teach and lead in that.
So with sunscreen, helmets. Do you see kids in the ER that have really burned skin?
I see kids with like just normal sunburn where I'm just like,
okay, put aloe on it. It's going to be okay.

(06:21):
That they come to the ER for sunburn? People come in for all sorts of things.
I haven't seen anything bad from sunburns. I think it's more of a long-term thing.
Like if you get sunburned periodically all the time, then that does increase your skin cancer risk.
Yes. As a mom of three teenagers, I know what you're talking about. Yeah.
Dr. Priyanka Kondal, thank you so much for being here today on Pediatrics Now.

(06:45):
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm Holly Wayment. I'll see you next time.
The website is pediatricsnowforparents.com. Pediatrics Now for Parents can also
be found wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Holly Wayment. Thank you so much for listening.