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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

School first aiders missed a broken arm..

148 replies

NatalieMc82 · 05/06/2014 14:37

My youngest son fell in the playground at lunchtime yesterday (he is 7) and suffered a minor fracture to his arm. I am not blaming the school for the injury - boys fall over - but despite the fact that he saw 2 different first aiders nobody realised the seriousness or phoned home. Because of this he was left with no pain relief of medical attention. It was obvious as soon as I he got home and I asked the usual questions: could he flex his wrist? make a fist? wriggle his fingers? and the answer to all the above was NO that a visit to casualty was in order. There was also clear swelling compared to the uninjured arm. A and E were fabulous and x-rays confirmed a 'buckle' fracture. But am I being unreasonable by saying the school could and should have done more?

OP posts:

Skivvywoman · 05/06/2014 15:47

Aww hope he's more comfy today?

My DS fell off a bin and split his head and hurt his wrist, we had to take him to a&e to get his head glued and we mentioned he had hurt his wrist but he never complained about it and wasn't swollen, hospital wanted to X-ray it just to check, turned out he had broke 2 bones in his wrist!

Original poster

NatalieMc82 · 05/06/2014 15:53

re NSPCC / RSPCA, the comment clearly said 'if I left my cat in that condition..'
the first aid course I took certainly covered relevant questions (eg ability to move fingers etc) but obviously all are different..
think if classroom teachers were more first aid aware this would help as they are the ones who know the children and the children would feel more confident approaching them as opposed to an admin person they barely know..
at present school have admitted that they have fallen short, have launched an investigation and also reported the incident to the health and safety people at our local council..
I am not anti-school or anti-teachers, just want to know I can have full confidence that my son is well looked after when he is away from me..

OP posts:

AmpersandRea · 05/06/2014 15:53

The same happened to my son. Fell onto his arm during PE (first lesson of the day) and despite continued pain and swelling I wasn't called. He kept complaining to the staff and was given ice packs, but no one thought to call me.
I wasn't happy. By the time he got off the school bus, seven hours had passed since the injury and he was in a considerable amount of pain.

Hope your son feels better soon.

gorionine · 05/06/2014 15:55

oops, I missed the cat bit

breakfastnotattiffanys · 05/06/2014 16:01

As nahidintthinkso says we don't phone home if the child doesn't seem to be in much pain and seems happy enough to remain in school - with a school of 120 kids we can have up to 20 first aid incidents per day. We are only human and use our own and other first aiders judgement if necessary. I feel you are being a little hard on the school staff as it is often hard to judge the 'bad injuries' often with no tears and the 'wimpy' kids who cry if the wind blows too much in their face! Yes I have actually had a child brought to me for that!

Original poster

NatalieMc82 · 05/06/2014 16:03

Thanks ampersandrea very grateful to hear from another mummy who has been there!
Hope your son got over his injury, and thank you for the support.
x

OP posts:

gorionine · 05/06/2014 16:05

In most school it is teaching and supporting staff not admin person that has first aid training (people who actually are with the children when an injury might happen)

As explained up thread, even with asking all the right question, a fracture can be missed by school staff.

Needadvice5 · 05/06/2014 16:08

Hope you DS is ok.

Unfortunately the clue is in their job role. They aren't qualified to undertake thorough examinations and they don't have xray vision, they treat Lacerations and apply plasters etc!

We often get children in A+E that have Injured themselves at school and then bought in by the parent a couple of days later.

Reenskar · 05/06/2014 16:09

I went on a skiing holiday once with three anaesthetists. One broke a rib, one broke a wrist. Neither realised til they got home. If doctors can miss a fracture without an X-ray then I'm not surprised a first aider can. They only do a very short course once every three years. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

Needadvice5 · 05/06/2014 16:10

PS I missed my dd's fracture when she fell off the trampoline and I'm an A+E sister with 20+ years experience!

rocketjam · 05/06/2014 16:12

I missed a fracture for my own son and I'm first aid trained. The GP missed his broken arm too. It's often the case that the swelling will start some time later - some hours, even a day later in the case of a green fracture. Sometimes, they even miss it on x rays.

Took three days to figure out that DS had a small fracture, he was only 18 months old and I still feel guilty about it.... But we did take him to GP, who missed it too!

lljkk · 05/06/2014 16:12

I once broke my arm & didn't realise until nearly 2 hours later. It didn't swell up or start hurting until then. I could make a fist & wiggle my fingers fine up even after the swelling. (Not sure about flexing wrist, but probably yes to that too). I only realised because my elbow swelled badly, iirc.

I dunno, if he didn't indicate he was in a lot of pain then probably he wasn't at the time. The ice would have delayed swelling.

How bad is his break? I hope it's better soon. Last time I broke mine hurt badly & I needed painkillers but the other 2 times I've broken the pain was almost minimal & no pain relief required.

DD was shocked but not really hurt when she broke hers last yr. I gave her paracetamol mostly for the shock, really. 2 of her mates had super bad needed-surgery-poking-out-of-skin breaks last year.

Original poster

NatalieMc82 · 05/06/2014 16:17

gorionline it is your points above that are exactly why I am asking whether school could have done more, I absolutely agree with most of what you have said. A fracture can be missed even when the right questions are asked but nobody asked them. First aiders should be teachers / support staff who know the children, but in this school they were office staff. If a child seems fine parents may not be called, but he was complaining of pain and crying so this was clearly not the case.

as I have said would just like to strive for a situation where staff have the best quality training and no child goes through something like this again. also where it is not the child who shouts the loudest who gets the most attention!

OP posts:

Scousadelic · 05/06/2014 16:20

I currently have an ankle that has 2 breaks in it. I am first aid trained but thought it was sprained so strapped it up, took painkillers and walked on it for almost 2 weeks. Some fractures are easily missed

ShatnersBassoon · 05/06/2014 16:21

I missed a fracture on one of my children too, and I'm also first aid trained. There was no obvious sign that any real damage had been done. It was like any other everyday bump. I don't think anyone would have suspected there was a fractured bone.

ShatnersBassoon · 05/06/2014 16:25

Oh, well it's completely different if he'd been crying all afternoon. I'd assumed that he'd presented as being ok.

PrincessBabyCat · 05/06/2014 16:27

To be fair, my baby cousin broke her ankle by jumping off the back of the shopping trolley weird. My aunt thought she just twisted her ankle a bit harder than expected because she was still walking on it. But she took her in to get it checked because it still hurt the next day and it was broken. We were all a bit baffled as to how she managed that since she had healthy bones and no medical reason as to why she would get a break that easily. It was just one of those things, and she's never broken a bone since.

Broken bones aren't always as easy to spot as you would assume.

Give your poor DS extra TLC and give him a sharpie so all his friends can sign his cast at school. :)

Trapper · 05/06/2014 16:27

I broke my leg in three separate places, had it xrayed and was told it was just twisted. Walked on it for three days before getting a second opinion.
If this is an isolated incident, I would not be concerned.

lljkk · 05/06/2014 16:28

Last time I broke my arm I knew immediately. Sent DH for painkillers, told staff the minute I walked into clinic.

Nurses didn't believe me.

But who could blame them? The number of times they get someone moaning & groaning only to have a minor sprain or muscle pull.

It was great after I was X-rayed & they exclaimed & recommended serious painkillers & we could all laugh while I was being wrapped up "Oooh, yar, you have broken it, 'aven't you! All the way across both bones, quite a full job of it. That's properly broken that is. 'Ave to see the doctor tomorrow at the 'ospital to check on it, too."

gorionine · 05/06/2014 16:33

NatalieMc82 I sympathise with you and your DS and I do understand that you want no child to go through that, however, risk 0 is impossible and if even medical staff with x-ray in hand can miss a fracture you cannot expect school staff to do a better job without the commodities (x-ray).

Jayne35 · 05/06/2014 16:36

It can't be helped I'm sure, especially with dramatic DC's who scream blue murder over nothing (like my DD used to). DD broke her arm at the elbow after coming off a bike and she could move it, and it wasn't swelling so I actually told her to stop being such a drama queen. When we took her to the hospital a few hours later I felt terrible, always thought you couldn't move a broken limb - no idea where that came from?

cantbelievethisishppening · 05/06/2014 16:38

My sister had a fractured arm for two weeks and no one realised. There are times when they are missed. First aid staff are trained to administer first aid based on what they can see wan what info they can get from a child. They are not medically trained, they don't have an x ray machine and yes, in occasions, they will probably miss fractures. I am not sure how you think training could be improved.

Hakluyt · 05/06/2014 16:41

Lljkk- amazing how the inability to pronounce 'h' mirrors the inability to spot broken bones..........

Original poster

NatalieMc82 · 05/06/2014 16:58

cantbelievethisishappening I believe training could be improved by making sure that it is the staff who best know the children who are first aiders, by making sure that the right questions are asked (eg: can fingers be moved etc, which I've already mentioned were missed) and by ensuring that the school's own policy regarding when to contact parents is followed.

I am not saying x-ray machines should be in schools - just that if a 12 year old can look at something and say 'that isn't right' then surely school staff should be able to pick up on it..

I genuinely appreciate the get well messages and also the balance in these posts.

I guess like any parent I'm distraught at the idea of him being upset, in pain and uncomforted and the fact I wasn't there to comfort him and wasn't given that opportunity until hours later..

OP posts:

gorionine · 05/06/2014 17:06

Just as an aside, we had a serious car crash as a family a few months ago and once I had checked that all the dcs were alive and had a chance to actually see them and assess them, it was obvious to me my DD had broken her leg as it was really misshapen (she had indeed broken her femur) but she could still move her toes which made me realise at the time that moving toe/fingers are not necessarily an accurate appreciation of fractured/not fractured.

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