Paediatric safeguarding head injury — DipIMC MCQ

Correct answer: A — Treat as serious head injury and raise safeguarding concerns during conveyance

Option A is correct because Possible abusive head trauma requires urgent clinical care and safeguarding escalation. Option E is less appropriate because watchful waiting risks deterioration or delays definitive care; option C is less appropriate because the clinical risk exceeds that destination or timeframe. Option D is less appropriate because it is plausible in a different scenario but suboptimal for the features described; option B is less appropriate because analgesia is important but not sufficient as the primary intervention. Clinical pearl: in DipIMC-style questions, the best answer is the intervention that changes outcome earliest in the pre-hospital phase.

Reference: JRCALC Guidelines; NICE Child maltreatment guidance