Epipens in schools - petition

[madge131214]

Dear fellow parent, please sign the petition below to get epipens in schools.

It could save the life of children who have allergies or the life of children who suddenly have an allergic reaction not having had one before.

Please also share the link with as many people as possible!

epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/57117

This seems sensible to me.

I think epipens should be part of a school's standard first aid kit, in the same way that there is a machine for treating cardiac arrest on the wall in my local shopping centre.

At the moment, schools can only administer epipens if they are prescribed for that particular child. Imagine if you were a teacher, knew you had an epipen for Jack on the shelf, saw John going into anaphylaxis. ...

Sounds like a good idea. But what's the argument against? Would like to explore all angles before signing.

An epipen is prescribed medication which you are supposed to be trained to use. I can't see how having one available for just anyone to use in any situation they think it might be needed is a good idea. It could lead to all sorts of issues. Can't see how it could be safe. Are you suggesting schools start having inhalers in 'just incase'? Opens a whole San if worms.
Untrained people cannot go around administering drugs because they think they know what is wrong with a child. You can't assume allergies if there is no history of them. There could be a myriad of reasons why a child gas collapsed.
Completely unworkable in my opinion.

Great idea!

Epipen training is included in the standard paediatric first aid course. How to recognise anaphylaxis is also is also covered, albeit rather briefly. All teachers and assistants should have done this course.

Adrenaline is a substance naturally occurring in the body. The risks of not giving an epipen are fast higher than the risks of administering one unnecessarily.

As a mum of a child with serious allergies I think it's a great idea.

Having inhalers just in case might not be a bad idea! I was once working on a school that had inhalers for loads of children but not the child who was having an asthma attack, because he had forgotten his.

I have no problem with having a salbutamol inhaler either. It will do very little, if any harm BUT it could save a life.

Actually my children's school used to have a "just in case" inhaler" held by the school nurse

They wrote to us saying that unfortunately they were no longer able to do this as they had been advised by someone (can't remember who maybe the health authority) that the nurse would be in trouble if she administers it.

I think that probably is the problem Chestnutsas it's a prescribed medication in this country. I think Australia have or are in the process of getting them in schools but not here......yet!

The chap who delivered my first aid course said that you couldn't administer an inhaler if it wasn't prescribed, but that you could (quite legally) leave another child's inhaler on the table and turn your back, knowing that the child having an asthma attack would know what to do with it.

Schools have a duty of care. If I knew I could save a life by using somebody else's medication, I would do it, even if it put my job on the line. It would be good to be able to administer life saving medication legally.

I think in the States they're brining in epipens in schools...am sure I read that somewhere.

Signed

I don't quite understand this.

Any child who has an allergy serious enough to require an epipen should have their own (x2) in school. All staff should be aware of it and know how to use it.

A child collapsing with suspected anaphylaxis with no history of previous allergy is unlikely and staff should have BLS skills so that they can provide life support whilst waiting for an ambulance.

It's unlikely, but it could happen.

I live in a small city, and an ambulance takes about six minutes to arrive. In an isolated village, an ambulancemay not be quick enough.

Sidge - our 9mo son has been diagnosed with allergies but because he was tested before he went onto solids we have been refused an Epipen "because he's never had a serious reaction" - because he's never had the foods firsthand...never mind the fact that he was sensitive enough to react through my breast milk! We have no idea how serious a reaction he could have if he did ever ingest one of his allergens, yet we have to make do with a bottle of Piriton and hope that will suffice.
There is another child at the nursery he will soon join, who is 4 and has only in the last month been prescribed one, despite being diagnosed at the age of 6 months.
It all comes down to cost - they won't prescribe if they can get away with it, because it's something that will be on repeat for the foreseeable future.
For those reasons, I think it is a good idea.

How many times a year does a child get into serious difficulties because and epipen wasn't available at school?

Speaking as someone who had an unexpected life-threatening anaphylactic reaction to penicillin at the age of 25, despite having had penicillin many, many times previously with no adverse effects at all, I think that epipens should be available in schools.

Anybody can develop a life-threatening allergy at any time in their life. Having felt the sheer bloody terror of my throat closing, tongue swelling, airways tightening and life literally ebbing away from me (and no, that's not being overly dramatic, that's what happens when you go into anaphylactic shock) I think that epipens should be mandatory in schools!

However, as they are a prescription-only medicine in the UK, they would need to be reclassified first wouldn't they? In the same way that Phenargan (for example) is now available over-the-counter, hurrah.

Australia have spare inhalers in schools for asthma emergencies so why not UK, who has the highest rate of wheeze in kids from 13 /14 in the western world?

A lot of today's teachers are epi or auto injector trained due the high number of children being prescribed them.

sometimes parents forget to bring them to school, or a teen particularly 'forget' to carry them.

I carry a spare one for my son and anti histamine, and often an inhaler. I have given the last two to strangers I have met many times, certainly if I saw anyone with anaphylaxis I wouldnt hesitate to use that on them.
Its a safe drug doesnt cause nasty long term side effects, more importantly it saves lives.

Giving adrenaline when it's not needed can be very dangerous, it is used in allergic reactions both to decrease airway swelling and increase the blood pressure (when you're having an anaphylactic reaction the blood vessels all dilate suddenly, which is what makes you all red and flushed, and this causes a drop in blood pressure that is sometimes so severe and sudden the heart can't compensate)
When you give a stonking great dose of adrenaline to someone who has normal blood pressure, the blood pressure can rise to levels which can be very dangerous. It isn't so dangerous to give it intramuscularly (ie an epipen) as it would be intravenously (that is risky enough that as a rule only anaesthetists and intensive care doctors would ever give adrenaline intravenously in non-cardiac arrest situations) but I've seen the effect on the blood pressure and heart rate of patients getting a little bit more adrenaline than they need and it is quite scary!
I really really would not want non-trained people giving adrenaline to people not known to have anaphylaxis, an allergic reaction isn't always a barn door diagnosis and the risks of it being given to someone who doesn't need it is too great in my opinion.

When I worked in a school, every child who had been prescribed an epipen, had one in school. If another child were to have an attack which looked like anaphylaxis, we were advised NOT to give a different child's epipen. This is because the epipen is prescribed based on weight so would be too little (so not effective) or too much. I don't know if that's still the current medical advice.

I am not sure I would be happy at teachers making a diagnosis and giving such a powerful drug.

msmiggins,teachers are already being trained to use epi pens. Parents who send their children to school with epi pens are relying on teachers to use them if the child needs them.

sallysparrow I have been told the opposite that the doses in epi pens are not going to cause any real long lasting harm, after all we have adrenaline already in our bodies, and if shocked normally, we react in such way and recover.
However, not using an auto injector or using it too late means death for those with anaphylaxis.

But teachers are being tained to use epi pens in situations where children already have a diagnosis, and that's great.

What I am concerned about is teachers making diagnoses of anaphalaxis in children at large- is unusual for a school aged child to have a one off anaphalactic shock without a history.
There are a number of reasons why a child may present with symptoms resembling anaphyactic shock- in children with existing conditions who develop them then theres a great chance that the eip-pen is a good tool to have on hand. THe child themselves will also be aware of their own symptoms.
Adrenalin may be a naturally occurring substance- but that does not make it safe. Same for insulin.
As sallysparrow points out giving a huge shot mistakenly to a child by a well meaning teacher guessing about a diagnosis could have potentially life threatening consequences. As chanceto dance has asked- how many children in the UK have died when no previous allergy has been diagnosed and no epipen was available?