The 4th of July holiday weekend sees its share of barbecues, fireworks and, unfortunately, trips to the hospital.

Pew Research Center found that July 4th and fifth are the busiest times of year for emergency rooms.

Here, from a pair of Kentucky emergency medicine doctors on ways you can avoid saying them this holiday weekend.

You know, families work really hard all year round to keep their kids safe.

And so I wouldn't take a day off on July 4th.

Basically, you know, I would think about, what are the risks here and how can I mitigate those risks?

Right.

So maybe you're going to go to professional fireworks instead and enjoy them.

Maybe you're going to get your kids glowsticks and flashlights and let them run around with those.

And that way you don't have to worry so much about the heat from from a different type of, firework or sparkler.

It's always a busy week to be working.

I feel like in the emergency department, the most common injury we're going to see is firework related injuries, which could come in two forms.

The first would be burn related injuries.

And then I would say the more violent one would be the mechanical from the explosions.

And typically we're going to see those to the hand face and then also the eye.

And that's going to be both from the explosion, but then also the shrapnel or the pieces.

And then the heat injury.

And I got to tell you, though, we see injuries at all ages, so it's hard to say, you know, this is the right age.

Even things that are really common, like sparklers, boy, they just get really, really hot.

And I think a lot of parents wonder, you know, at what point is this okay?

I mean, obviously, I would of course defer to the, the laws wherever you live.

So I think protective clothing, protective gloves, eyewear would be a must.

During if you have any type of usage of the firework.

So if you're 200 yards away watching the firework from a chair, that's one thing.

But if you're someone that's in the vicinity where the fireworks are going to go off, I think protective eyewear is number one.

And then protective clothing.

And so, you know, making sure that if there is sparks, or embers that are flying, make sure you're wearing, you know, long pants, a long sleeved shirt, some type of either jacket or some type of fabric.

That's, that's, you know, a little bit more flame retardant.

And then gloves would be a big one.

So, you know, definitely the thicker the more protective gloves that you can wear.

I mean sometimes we see people that have injuries that are mechanical.

They have a dislocated finger, but it's easy to put back in because they had a large glove on or something that's protected them from the burn or, or that type of aspect, you know, holding the firework in the hand.

This is the big one that we see where they're holding it, they light it.

It doesn't go off.

They keep holding it.

They don't think that it's lit anymore.

And then boom.

And then it goes off.

A lot of bleeding, a lot of burn.

So it can be very, very hard, and very preventable.

Thank goodness.

Well, let's avoid all of that.

Now, for those celebrating the holiday by the pool or lake.

Doctor Anderson recommends designating a water watcher to keep an eye on the swimmers.