Asthma

Accidents and Illness (see Asthma below)

Despite everyone's best efforts to prevent them, accidents and illnesses will occur.

The following policies and procedures enable us to:

§ manage the inevitable injuries and illnesses as safely and effectively as possible

§ ensure that people with infectious diseases can be safely employed or enrolled at school

§ fulfil our administrative and legal requirements.

Prevention

The school attempts to prevent accidents and illnesses by:

    • complying with Health and Safety regulations including hazard identification
    • encouraging parents to keep ill children away from school
    • encouraging parents to immunise their children
    • notifying parents of outbreaks of infectious diseases and having infection control procedures in place
    • providing health education
    • providing supervision.

Managing Minor/Moderate Injury

Note: Always follow the correct procedure for dealing with blood and other body fluids.

Minor Injury

If a student sustains a minor injury, take them to the medical room and inform the office, if necessary. After treatment the student can return to the class or playground. Record the injury and any treatment in the first aid log.

If it is a head injury, you must contact the parent/s and notify the principal. The student will need to be monitored for delayed concussion.

Moderate Injury

Take the student to the medical room and inform the office, if necessary. Administer first aid as appropriate. Collect the names of any witnesses to the incident.

If it is a head injury, you must contact the parent/s and notify the principal. The student will need to be monitored for delayed concussion. Moderate injuries require parents to be notified.

If the student requires attention from a doctor, or to rest for an extended period, ask the parent/s to collect the student. The principal or another teacher may need to take the student to a doctor or medical centre if the parents cannot be contacted.

No student is sent home unless a caregiver has been contacted and permission given for the student to leave. The office staff or principal is informed in every case, and informs the teacher if a student from their room is sent home.

Note: No medication may be administered to a child without parental consent. Paracetamol may be given with verbal consent from a parent.

Record the injury and any treatment in the first aid log.

Note: Any bite inflicted by a student must be washed, and seen by a doctor as soon as possible if the skin has been punctured. Contact the bitten student's parents.

Illness

Note: Always follow the correct procedure for dealing with blood and other body fluids.

If a student is, or becomes, ill at school, take them to the medical room and inform the office. Contact the parent/s and arrange for the student to be collected from school. No student is sent home unless a caregiver has been contacted and permission given for the student to leave. The office staff or principal is informed in every case, and informs the teacher if a student from their room is sent home.

Note: No medication may be administered to a child without parental consent. Paracetamol may be given with verbal consent from a parent.

Follow infection control procedures, including implementing heightened hygiene practices in the event of a significant viral outbreak such as norovirus or influenza.

See the Pandemic section for more information if the illness occurs during a Yellow Alert in a pandemic.

Medicines

Note: No medication may be administered to a child without parental consent. Paracetamol may be given with verbal consent from a parent.

The school has a responsibility to ensure that if students are taking medication, procedures are followed to ensure that it is kept securely, and taken appropriately. The school administers medication with due care and attention to the instructions, but takes no responsibility for any problems arising from this treatment.

Medication for specific allergies or other needs is stored in the secretary's office with a complete list of students' conditions. Staff are required to make themselves aware of this list.

All medication is dispensed through the school office, and all treatments and the dispensing of medication is recorded. Medication is not the responsibility of the class teacher. Children may not hold medicine in the classroom, with the exception of asthma inhalers.

Some medication, for example, drugs that adjust student behaviour, needs to be carefully monitored so that parents/caregivers can check that it is being taken regularly.

The school will only administer prescription medication to students whose parents have made a formal request. The following guidelines are observed:

    • Parents/caregivers complete a Medicine Authority form , and notify the school in writing of any variation in dose.
    • Members of the school administration staff have the authority to administer medication on behalf of parents/caregivers, and ensure that medication is stored safely, and appropriate records kept.
    • Medication (e.g., tablets, administered on behalf of their parents/caregivers to a student suffering from a medical condition):
      • must be delivered to school by parents/caregivers, not by students
      • must be stored in a container labelled with the name of the student, dose required, and the time the dose is to be taken.
    • To ensure the safety of staff administering medication:
      • all medication is stored in a locked cabinet
      • all medication given to student is recorded on a card kept with the medication
      • the record shows the name of the student, the dose given, the time and date given, any other action taken, and is signed by the student
      • forms from parents/caregivers are stored in a file.

When a parent or doctor needs to be consulted, this is done as soon as practicable.

Emergency allergy medication is kept in the medical room with the first aid kit.

Asthma

Asthma is unusually prevalent in New Zealand. Symptoms of an attack include:

    • shortness of breath
    • difficulty breathing
    • audible wheeze
    • coughing
    • difficulty speaking
    • increased respiratory rate and respiratory effort (use of tummy muscles to help breathe).

The parent of any child with severe asthma needing supervised treatment at school must complete and sign a full medical protocol with the office. The register of medical conditions includes asthma, and should include any details of a child's allergy to an asthma medication.

As children may require their medication at any time, it is inappropriate for it to be stored in the sick bay and issued under any formal protocol. Children hold their own asthma medication, named and stored in their desk or school bag.

An appropriate dose for most children suffering mild asthma is two puffs of their reliever medication. This can occasionally be increased to six when asthma is moderate or severe. Children cannot overdose on this dosage.

If a child requires self-medication more frequently than four-hourly, their parents should be notified and the child collected from school.

Note: Call an ambulance immediately if a child shows severe symptoms of asthma, especially the inability to speak or move about.

The emergency treatment dose for any asthmatic child is six puffs via a spacer, repeated almost continuously until the ambulance arrives.