Medication

[Lucy P]

At present our policy on medication is... we will only administer if it is prescribed, i firmly believe children should not be at nursery if they require calpol etc.

 

We have recently had two situations that have made me rethink this policy.

 

Firstly, a child in our care had a temp of 38.6 (our policy is to send home at 38), after trying to contact the parents (and failing) then trying to contact the 3 emergency numbers provided (and failing), we became increasingly worried as the child's temp increased to 39.5 and we were still unable to contact anyone... after 1h 45mins the mother finally contacted the nursery after receiving one of the countless messages left.

 

Secondly, following a big accident in Portsmouth last night the majority of parents were unable to collect their children on time with some being collected at approx 8pm (we close at 6), although nothing happened i am wondering what we would have done if a child had a raised temp or an allergic reaction, it would have been impossible for the parents to collect.

 

My dilemma now is should we store a bottle of Calpol and Piriton at nursery for such events, i hope they would never be used and the policy would be absolutely strict in terms of who would administer and the seriousness of the situation, it would only ever be given with my permission (and of course the parents would sign to give their permissio in their absence.)

 

Do any of you have any views on the situation? I wouldn't want the parents to abuse the situation by expecting us to administer when i didn't feel it necessery.

 

Sorry for the long post

[Guest]

would you not consider taking the child into A/E rather than medicate without permission?

[Lucy P]

Ultimatly the child would always be taken to hospital ~ in line with our current policy. (The nursery is based on a naval base so we are lucky to have the sick bay facility close by.)

 

If i did introduce a new policy it would be distributed to all parents who in turn would complete a consent form giving their permission for the medication to be administered. It would explain that the medicine would only be given in an absolute emergency.

 

At no time would i EVER consider medicating without permission.

[Lucy P]

Another problem i can forsee is having to trust parents to be honest and to remember to tell us if they have given their child any medicine before arriving in the morning

[hali]

We have just finishes the new 12 hour 1st aid course.........if in doubt that a child needs medication and you cannot contact parents to pick the child up call an ambulance... our instructor has instilled to us 'pass the problem on' meaning to the proffessionals!!!!

[Helen]

I agree with Hali; keep it simple, and you are less likely to find yourself in a really awful position, eg a child having a reaction to Calpol, etc. On our First Aid course, we were told exactly the same; pass the problem onto someone whose job it is to make medical decisions.

Is there a surgery or cottage hospital near you, with whom you could have a "telephone relationship"? Maybe you would feel happier if you could contact them in emergency situations such as the ones you've described, and then get them to say whether or not to administer Calpol, Piriton, etc. At least that way, the full responsibility does not lie with you alone.

In my nursery, we've been thinking about trying to get together a policy and associated procedures in case of dire emergency, (in line with government recommendations for staying in and tuning in, etc). It's hard to think about all the eventualities, isn't it?

[Guest]

I agree with Hali, call the professionals. If you do decide to use Calpol etc provided by the setting you need to consider expiry dates, allergic reactions, temperature doesn't go down etc. Would you be covered by your insurance?

 

My grandson suffered 4 febrile convulsions in one year, ( when he was 2 going on 3) bought on by a high temperature, advice given to mum was to strip off clothing, open windows etc ie: cool the body down but not to grab a bottle of Calpol. I personnally think Calpol, cough medicines, etc etc are over used these days.

 

Helen regarding your review of procedures in emergencies, I agree we do need to look at these regularly. When I used to do Accreditation Assessing It was quite normal to find a setting had good fire evacuation procedures and regular practices but when I asked if there was a real fire and parents may not be able to collect or even be contacted, where would the children go?, not many settings had contingency plans for such an event.

 

I recently had a situation where a father seperated from the mother and has no right to access to his daughter, he has tried to gain entrance at the setting which was dealt with because we have an intercom door system but the other day whilst out on our daily walk the father drove past and stopped his van and asked to give his daughter a hug, horrible situation for fear of him trying to take her (which he has threatened). We have now had to revue whether to take the children out or not.

 

Peggy

 

Peggy

[hali]

Thats awful Pegy...............

[Beau]

I think the real problem lies in the fact that you weren't able to contact the parents or 3 emergency contacts! We really have to stress to the parents that someone on their list has to be contactable (is that a word???? ) during the session. Parents have to take responsibilty for their children at all times.

[Lucy P]

Thanks for all your replies

 

I think you hit the nail on the head Beau... we do request that the parents update their contact numbers and also inform us if their working hours change etc, but i feel that due to the nursery being 'workplace' they feel guilty if they go shopping etc and do not always tell us

[Beau]

I know that sometimes parents just don't think about the fact that emergency situations might arise - this is the sort of thing that always happens to someone else, isn't it. It frustrates me that it's so difficult to make parents take these procedures seriously. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but we don't always have the luxury of it.

[Guest]

Do you generally keep spare Calpol at your settings? Have parents signed beforehand to say it can be used?

 

I was advised by the Health Visitor last week to have some spare just incase we get a temperature that is rising - to use in the interim period - as long as parents have signed a generic permission slip beforehand.

 

What happens as a general rule?

[Guest]

slightly different but when we were planning to have a holiday club for children up to age twelve we reviewed and adapted all our policies accordingly, ready for Ofsted approval. One consideration was to have piriton available because we would be outdoors a lot and maybe this would be useful in case of allergic reaction. I discussed our thoughts with the Ofsted inspectors and their response was NO TO NON-PRESCRIBED MEDICATION. Obviously this was only these Inspectors views, but maybe it would be wise to consult with ofsted before having piriton, calpol etc available on the premises.

 

peggy

[Guest]

Good thinking - thanks