Recording/reporting First Aid In The Eyfs

[Guest]

Hi!

It's the first time I've posted on here so I hope I've put this topic in the right place! I would be grateful for any advice or suggestions on the issue of reporting accidents to parents.

 

I have read in in the EYFS Statutory Framework that from September we have to report accidents/injuries and treatment given, to parents, and this was confirmed when I attended a peadiatric first aid course on friday. Apparently every accident, including grazed knees etc has to be reported and signed by the parent. This is not a problem in the nursery class, but I can see it will be logisitcal nightmare for the two reception classes.

 

The reception children go out to play on the main playground during morning break and at lunchtime, and any accidents are recorded in an accident book that is kept with the first aid box. There is also an accident in book kept in the reception clases that is used if a child has an accident whilst in the classroom, or in the outdoor learning area. At the moment we only inform parents of bumped heads and more 'serious' minor injuries (if that makes sense!) Obviously serious injuries are dealt with according to LEA guidelines and recorded on the appropriate form.

 

I would be interested to know how other schools deal with this issue; should we use separate books for each reception class so that the staff can ask the parents to sign at the end of the day? I can see this causing confusion for staff on first aid duty/lunchtime supervisors, and how do we organise the book prevent parents seeing entries other than their own child's, when signing?

 

To be honest, I think that having to report every graze is going slightly over the top, as surely these are part of a normal childhood, but if that's what we have to do, we need to find a manageble way of doing it!

 

Thanks for any suggestions you may have!

[Marion]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I have to agree that recording every graze is going to be a nightmare. With my present class it would almost be a full time job for one person.

[HappyMaz]

Welcome to the forum, Roseanna!

 

Perhaps only those accidents that need attention from an adult need to be recorded? Most times children will pick themselves up and carry on after a slight fall. However if they need cleaning up or a plaster then perhaps that should be recorded? I guess it depends on the number of children you have and what your staffing levels are like... how many plasters get stuck on grazes in one day??

 

With no experience of what its like to work in a school its hard for me to reach any conclusion about this really, though. Is this a case where one rule can't fit all settings? I'll be interested to read others' answers....

 

Maz

[Guest]

At the moment we don't tell parents about every bump and scrape. If it is a bump to the head, parents are contacted, and it is suggested they come and 'see their child', and can then make the decision whether to take them home - or if it is a nasty bump, they are asked to collect them (as opposed to coming to see them and then making the decision).

 

We contact parents similarly for other injuries, such as a fall on an arm where we can't tell if they have done any damage - the ball is then in the parent's court in terms of action they take next.

 

Everyday knee grazes, etc, are dealt with as necessary - I sometimes speak to parents after school, if I feel I need to, but don't always, depending on the child and the injury. We have just redone our first aid training and have been told that EVERY scrape (no matter how small) MUST be covered with a dressing - obviously we have always put plasters or whatever on cut knees, etc, but tiny grazes that are not openly bleeding we have cleaned and left (as the trainers told us would be the norm at home) ... maybe we have been doing completely the wrong thing until now - but I think we had better stock a whole pharmacy full of plasters!