Jump to content
Home
Forum
Articles
About Us
Tapestry

Asthma In Nurseries And Pre-schools


Guest
 Share

Recommended Posts

Not sure where was the best place to post this thread so moderators feel free to move it. There is currently a thread running about flour play. I have mentioned my concerns there but don't want to hijack the thread fully and thought it would be better to make these resources available under their own thread for future reference.

 

I have a personal interest having nearly lost my youngest daughter again to asthma at the new year . The adult next to her in major resus did not make it. Twice she has been hospitalised following something happening at school because staff were ill informed and did not understand how serious asthma can be.

 

11% Only of pre-school workers surveyed said that their organisation had an asthma policy

 

64% Only of pre-school workers say that they are confident in helping a child use an inhaler

I thought it might be helpful to post a link to useful information on Asthma UK website. The link is to the main schools page. From this page you can download a suggested asthma policy. Under the pre-school section there are PDF's for 'Pre-school guidlines' 'FAQ about the pre-school enviroment' and a guide to 'Pre-school medications'. Under Teaching materials and resources you can order FREE Pre-school asthma cards.

 

Here are some key points that every pre-school group needs to cover in an asthma policy:

  • • welcome all children with asthma
  • • recognise that asthma is an important condition affecting many children
  • • encourage and help children with asthma to participate fully in activities
  • • ensure children have immediate access to reliever inhalers
  • • ensure the group environment is favourable to children with asthma
  • • ensure that other children in the group understand that asthma can be serious
  • • provide guidance for staff on what to do if a child has an asthma attack to ensure
  • the child’s welfare in the event of an emergency
  • • work with parents of children with asthma to ensure that their children are in a safe,
  • caring environment
  • • promote action by parents and teachers to actively support the policy in the group.

The key point for me is "ensure the group environment is favourable to children with asthma" We can provide those exciting sensory experiences with a bit of thought. Peat and compost should always be damped down and consider that outdoors maybe be a safer place for some dust creating activities.Its not just the child engaged in the activity but others in the room.

 

Asthma Uk

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Many thanks for that biccy. I'm glad to hear your daughter is well again.

I have just placed an order for asthma cards - but the pre-school cards are out of stock, so I have order the school cards. Am not sure if they run out of stock quickly, but each time I have tried (since Sep 2011) they have been unavailable.

Thanks again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you biccy, we do have an asthma policy taken from Asthma UK, but we need to be more proactive with parents about insisting the children's inhalers come in and ideally we have 1 that stays in setting (except when we're on trips) but that if they really cannot get the GPs to prescribe another inhaler that it comes in everytime the child is with us.

 

It's helped that I & my boys have asthma so if families are at the biggest GP practice near us, I can very confidently say 'The asthma nurse will give you another spacer and inhaler for little Freddy'. But not all the practices near us are so asthma friendly.

 

We only do shaving foam outside with me well away from it... And now I'm manager there will be no more fake snow spray either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the info!

 

All my staff have had asthma training and we renew it every couple of years. we also have an asthma policy, we renew our training even if we dont have any children with atstham as i feel its just good practice.

 

We also put a health care plan in place for every child that starts at the setting with asthma. They all bring in an inhaler which is kept on the preises and a copy of their health plan is kept with it...........

 

Over the years we seem to be getting more and more children with allergies/asthma.

 

This year we have lactose, nut and asthma.................... so all staff have also had epi -pen training

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi all

 

just wanted to share this site http://www.medpac.co.uk/

 

This product was designed by one of my mums, who's schild needed to carry medicine from place to place. It is a simple yet effective way of carry asthma inhalers or other meds.

we have a child at my pre-school, who has sever Asthma and has been in hospital several times in his short life. we share the medpac with another setting as well as home.

mum used to put meds in his bag in a plastic bag, we now place in the medpac and pass it from setting to setting, it also helps when we go on outings its bright orange and easy to spot. has all the info needed and has photo id.

 

if you have more then one child with medicine the photo helps you to quickly identify whose is who.

 

 

I didnt mean it to be an add, but really think its nice, and wanted to share the site.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for that.

My youngest son has/had asthma since birth and thankfully over the past few years he's needed his inhaler less and less. I've done those trips at 1am to the hospital and stayed for days so I really hope your daughter finds a level and improves like my son has.

I have really scarey memories of the way some settings view inhalers and their use, only every two hours was rigidly stuck to until the parent had to be called. I was frantic sometimes being an agency worker and therefore my opinions not counting and one nursery in particular were the reason I sent off for the asthma cards.

Spooky that today this is in the press

Asthma children at risk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cannot open any of the links on the asthma uk site,,,,,,,,,,,can anyone help?? (They are in Word and my pc doesn't seem to like it)

 

 

the ones I see are all adobe not word,

 

 

Maybe worth trying to update or download latest version of adobe - they open fine for me..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I cannot open any of the links on the asthma uk site,,,,,,,,,,,can anyone help?? (They are in Word and my pc doesn't seem to like it)

 

I think some of them are PDFs - I managed to open the preschool guidelines, but I can't remember how to upload a document, so will have to have a try... preschool_guideline.pdf

 

Hoping it's there! Which one was it you were trying to open?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm pleased many of you have found this useful and its made you all think about your settings, policies and practise.

 

Laura has brittle asthma too Cait which started when she was 7. She's been tested for TB, CF, and deep seated chest infection so great have her attacks been. They are not sure why after an attack her blood will not retain oxygen and recovery is getting longer with every attack.Her lastest treatment as well as tablets and inhalers is a new kid on the block for asthma treatment-Caffeine tablets (like living with a bouncy ball) and the advice to give her a can of coke to drink if she is in the middle of an attack. Unfortunately the side effect of asthma mean she now has an enlarged heart and lungs. The worry is her heart will give out by over working during an attack which is what kills asthmatics not lack of oxygen.

 

It is hard to get a 14 year old to understand the seriousness of her condition especially when she asks to sleep at a friends and she's admitted to hospital and we find they had gone to a foam party at an ice rink :o because even adults think 'its just asthma every childs got that these days'. I would not want anyone to sit in major resus while a child struggles to breathe. I have this week to tell her ordodontist to please take her braces and elastic bands off as having straight teeth seems minor to being able to breathe. I know he won't be pleased because he doesn't understand the seriousness and the last thing you want when struggling to breathe is mouth full of metal.

Edited by Guest
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. (Privacy Policy)