Carol Hawley discusses how this patient group should be managed in emergency departments and sets out the practice guidance to which emergency nurses should refer

In the UK, about 260,000 children with head injuries attend emergency departments each year (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) 2007, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) 2009). About 90 per cent of these injuries are minor and can be managed without admission to hospital (Swann and Teasdale 1999). Clinical guidelines for early management of head injury have recently been published by NICE in England and Wales, and by SIGN in Scotland, to standardise management across the UK. This article discusses the role of emergency nurses in implementing these guidelines.