Background/Aim: Unintentional injuries among children and adolescents have become a common issue in public healthcare. The study objective was to analyse the characteristics and identify predictors associated with unintentional injuries in children and adolescents treated in emergency medical services (EMS) in the Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methods: A cross-section study with retrospective analysis of WebMedic e-database from 14 EMS, in the period between January 2018 and December 2020 was conducted. Research included patients with unintentional injuries, aged ≤ 19 years, of both sexes. For comparison between groups, Chi-squared and multivariate logistic regression were used in risk factor analysis. Results: A total of 1,856 cases were identified, most injuries resulted from falls (46.7 %) and traffic injuries (26.9 %). Boys were significantly more affected by injuries than girls (p < 0.001). Falls were the major cause for reporting to EMS among age groups of children (0-9 years) and adolescents (10-14 years), whereas injuries in traffic were dominant in adolescents aged 15 to 19. The most common injuries were head injuries (35.7 %). Risk factors of unintentional injuries were age (p < 0.001), sex (p = 0.046), weekday (p = 0.016), winter (p = 0.014), body region (head, abdomen, lower and upper limbs (p < 0.001), thorax (p = 0.009)). Conclusions: There were significant differences in characteristics of unintentional injuries according to age and sex. Chances for occurrence of unintentional injuries among children increased with their age, especially for boys. These differences might indicate areas where preventive measures should be undertaken.

Introduction: Unintentional falls are the leading cause of traumatic injuries, without fatal consequences, with significant morbidity in the population of children and adolescents. Goal: The main goal of this research was to analyze the manner of falling in relation to age and gender, and to assess the type of injury and the anatomical region of the body affected by the injury sustained during a fall in patients ≤19 years of age treated in the emergency medical services in the Republic of Srpska. Material and methods: A cross-section study with retrospective analysis of the national e-database WebMedic from 11 emergency medical services between January 2018 and December 2020 was conducted. Research included patients with diagnosis of unintentional injury caused by a fall, aged ≤19 years. Descriptive statistics and the Chi-square test were used for comparisons between groups. Results: During the observed period, 857 cases of unintentional falls were identified, where 87.5% were referred for hospitalization. The group of children aged 0 to 9 years (55.7%) was more often treated for falls (p<0.001), and boys were affected 6.7 times more often than girls (p<0.001). Falls from the same level caused different types of injuries depending on the age and gender of the children (p<0.001). According to the type of injury, superficial injuries (36.8%) and open wounds (29.4%) were most often identified, and the most frequently affected body region was the head (52.0%). Conclusion: The group of children up to the age of nine and males were more often affected by superficial injuries and open wounds, with head injuries being predominant in all age groups. These results could indicate the necessity of creating programs with targeted prevention.

The epidemic of the COVID-19 disease presented a great threat to the public health. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is still spreading on a global level, so the accurate global number of the infected or deceased from the COVID-19 disease is yet to be estimated or correctly counted. The nurses have always played a great role in the prevention and control of infections, isolations and public health protection. The nurses' work during the COVID-19 epidemic has created a history of nursing. Nurses have been on the front line of defense from the SARSCov-2 virus for over a year now and many of them are already on the edge of endurance, both mentally and physically. The professional security is the key for the work of nurses who are facing the danger of infection on a daily basis. The aim of this paper is to show the actions and measures taken by the nurses in Republika Srpska that could help in the decrease of the global transmission of the infection. Compared with some European countries and their fight with the epidemic, Republika Srpska has maintained the number of confirmed cases on a level which can be controlled. The prevention measures are the only thing that can stop the spread of this new infectious disease. In our biggest healthcare institution of a tertiary level, a large number of COVID procedures for nurses and other healthcare workers have been released. Nurses are, together with other healthcare professionals, actively involved in the interventions around the COVID-19 and will be one of the key factors that will stop the pandemic.

APSTRAKTOralni antikoagulantni lijekovi (OAL) su efi kasna sredstva u prevenciji i liječenju tromboembolijskih komplikacija. Međutim, i pored standardizacije i napretka u primjeni, OAL predstavljaju značajan klinički problem, jer su u pitanju lijekovi male terapijske širine koji lako stupaju u interakcije sa hranom i lijekovima što može bitno da utiče na pojačan ili oslabljen terapijski efekat. Ovi lijekovi su efi kasni u prevenciji venskog tromboembolizma, akutnog infarkta miokarda (AIM), poremećaja srčanog ritma po tipu atrijalne fi brilacije, prevenciji moždanog udara i slično. Najznačajnije i klinički najčešće neželjeno dejstvo OAL je krvarenje. Rizik od pojave krvarenja najveći je u toku uvođenja lijeka u terapiju i prvih nekoliko mjeseci od početka terapije. HAS-BLED skor predstavlja sistem bodovanja, razvijen za procjenu rizika od krvarenja kod oboljelih koji koriste OAL. Rezultati naše studije pokazuju da povišen HAS-BLED skor ima dobru prediktivnu vrednost u proceni nastanka krvarenja kod ooboljelih koji koriste OAL. KLJUČNE REČIoralni antikoagulantni lijekovi, HAS-BLED skor, krvarenje. ABSTRACTOral anticoagulant drugs (OALs) are eff ective agents in the prevention and treatment of thromboembolic complications. However, despite standardization and application progression, OALs represent a signifi cant clinical problem because they are small-therapeutic medicines that easily interact with food and medicine, which can substantially aff ect the increased or weakened therapeutic eff ect. Oral anticoagulants are 4-hydroxycoumarin derivatives and vitamin K antagonists, and their pharmacological activity is based on inhibition of the synthesis of coagulation factors in the liver. These drugs are eff ective in the prevention of venous thromboembolism, acute myocardial infarction (AIM), heart rhythm disorders by type of atrial fi brillation, stroke prevention, and the like. The most important and clinically commonly undesirable eff ect of OAL is bleeding. The risk of bleeding is greatest during the introduction of the drug in therapy and for the fi rst few months of the onset of therapy. HAS-BLED scor is a skoring system developed to estimate the 1-year risk of major bleeding in patients with atrial fi brillation and is also used for other indications. KEY WORDSoral anticoagulant medication, HAS-BLED score, bleeding.

Background:The aim of the present study was to improve the knowledge of incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) among nurses who take care of hospitalised patients with faecal incontinence (FI). Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional research study in which a design of one group before and after the testing was used to evaluate knowledge about IAD. The study included 60 nurses, and the IAD educational sessions lasted for about 60 minutes. They included topics that referred to the definition, prevention, and treatment of IAD. The McNemar test and Wilcoxon's matched-pairs test were used to test the differences in IAD knowledge among nurses. Results: After the education sessions, nurses showed highly statistically significant better knowledge about FI and its influence on the occurrence of IAD, as well as the possibilities of prevention and treatment (p < 0.001). The mean value of the total score on the knowledge test was significantly higher after the education (8.66 ± 1.50) than the mean value of the total score on the test before the education (6.82 ± 1.50). Conclusion: It was found that nurses showed better knowledge in classification, risk factors, prevention, and treatment of IAD after education. It is necessary to continuously evaluate the knowledge of IAD among nurses to plan educational programmes, with the aim of providing better outcomes in patient treatment.