Epipen pupil in class

[conistonoldwoman]

Never had experience of this before. Current procedures from teachers would be helpful. Thanks.

Are you a teacher or mum of a pupil?

Teacher.

School nurse should give you training before term begins. Risk assessment should be in place before term begins. We keep a written instruction sheet in the plastic box with the epipen and, usually, Piriton. Child's photo and name is on top of box. Spare box with all equipment kept in school office. In infants an adult is responsible for making sure the box is with the child (playground, gym hall, etc.). In upper school the child begins to take responsibility.

Administering it isn't too complicated. You should get to practice with a 'dummy' at your training.

Thank you. Term begins on Tuesday so I don't think our nurse contact will be able to give training beforehand. What should I do? Thanks for your other guidance.

Insist it happens first week back. Involve your union if a date is not set. It needs to be done for insurance reasons.

In the meantime I would ask Mum to pop in and run through what she would do till procedures are in place. Do you have an INSET day before the kids are back? She could maybe pop in then so you can talk to her.

Maybe epipen have a website you could look at? Does the school first aider already have training? You could talk to him/her. If the worst happens phone 999 and they will talk you through the procedure.

Just remember it's unlikely you'll need to administer it. I've taught 4 kids with epipens - never needed to go further than Piriton with any of them. My only experience of actually using one was on a summer camp when I was a lifeguard.

In my school, we all have epipen training once a year. That's teachers, TAs and office staff. Are you new to the school?
There is always a number of people who have the training, even if the class teacher hasn't had it yet. The pens are kept in the office whilst the child is on the premises, any request for one would bring a member of staff with it, to support or to give the injection.

It's so not something you could or should describe how to do over the internet.

You need proper training urgently, or insist a member of staff who has previously been trained be in your classroom with you until you are.

There are videos on youtube - and yes, it's very unlikely that you would have to carry it iut, but for the sake of that very small chance you need to be properly trained in what to do.

I'm not a teacher, but suspect there is specific training you need to do for insurance, H+S purposes etc.

In the meantime, try this....

and don't worry, it rarely needs to be used!

You could ask the parents if they (until the nurse comes in) have a dummy you could practise with. When I was given my epipen the nurse who trained me gave me my own practice pen so that I could keep practising and also train my partner.

It should happen in that first week, ideally the day.

When DS started reception last year I had already chased up the school nurse and the paediatric allergy team before the schools broke up and they sent the epi-pen training person in that first afternoon. Every teacher took part.

To be fair they look fairly straightforward (am lucky I've never had to use DC's), but you need to know the signs when you need to use them (ie; swelling of throat) then it's blue light to the hospital.

In addition, parents should supply more than one pen, just in case the first one fails, you need a back up. Plus I used to have one in the classroom and one in the general first aid box, easily accessible by Midday Supervisors.

yes to what stargirl says. There should be a kit in the office clearly labelled too, I have to provide another kit when DS goes out on trips. There are big photos of the allergic children in the school kitchen too.

Agree with stargirl how old is your pupil and what is the allergy or allergen?
You should defo have had training.......

There should also be a care plan somewhere to listing signs and symptoms as each child is Differnt

I'm not a teacher but parent of a 5yo DD who has a severe allergy to cows milk and needs an epipen.

As others have said, I would get training done ASAP but would also chat to the parents to see if the child has had an anaphylactic reaction before and what the symptoms were. Reactions can vary even if exposed to the same allergen, for eg my DDs first reaction involved coughing almost to the point of retching, the need to go to the loo and then difficulty breathing. The next one involved projectile vomiting and the most horrendous itchy rash all over her body.

Depending on the allergy and the activities you carry out you may need to do some forward planning. My DD was in reception last year so loads of model making in class and parents were asked to donate cardboard, drinks bottles etc in. The teachers put up notes saying not to bring in old milk cartons or yoghurt pots just in case they hadn't been washed properly.

Also at Christmas when they had a party parents were asked to provide food. I worked with the school to make sure DD could attend safely (whilst still obviously allowing all the other kids to have there usual party food).

So although I've gone off the point of epipens what I'm trying to say is if you can think ahead to situations where the child is likely to be exposed to their allergen then you will be reducing the chance that you will have to use the epipen.

Good luck!

I would speak to the parents before school starts if you can. My dd has an epipen only because she wasn't allowed to fly without one so now she has to have it at school. She is allergic to peanuts but has never had an anaphylactic reaction and wasn't prescribed an epipen after allergy testing.

There should really be a school policy about where it's going to be kept. Classroom or office. What if it's needed and your classroom is locked?

I've never worked in a primary school where the classrooms have been locked when the children have been in. Our pens are kept in the office, which is always staffed.

Not in the classroom, in the school though. Some of our classroom doors open into the outside rather than a corridor so they lock them when they aren't in them.

I am a teacher and epipen training happens every year in school. How have you missed it?

We have a few pupils with Epi-pens. One little boy is super allergic and his mum comes in at the beginning of every year and runs an inset for staff. You need to ask your head for training if it's not already on offer.

You can usually get trainer ones for free from the manufacturer, so if you find out which brand it is you can order one to practice with.

I'm also really surprised you haven't had training. DS just started P1 and all the teachers had refresher epipen training just before he started and all the after school staff have been trained too.

I provided an allergy protocol sheet to the school with lists of symptoms and the appropriate course of action, it also included epipen instructions on it. It was actually from an American site, will see if I can find it.

TBH I have worked in several schools and every single one has done annual epipen training, We all have at attend and sign to say we have done so.

this is it it has epipen instructions at the end

I'm a mum with allergic son who has an Epipen.

Normally a few teachers in school would have been trained - if you can't get this done internally, then can you ask for some private training? The pen is easy to use - training will only take 15 minutes. I would also want guidance on how to spot an allergic reaction as type of reaction /severity varies quite a lot.

I would think the following would be reasonable for you to ask from your school / parent.

1. Training from health professional to use Epipen and how to identify at what stage to use it. As other posters have said usually just Piriton is enough. Just a thought as a last option could you contact your own GP surgery as ask is there a nurse to show you - even if it is a paid service, you could ask the school whether they could reimbuse you.

1. two emergency kits from parent containing:

Care plan - noting allergies, medication dosage and other relevant contacts.

Normally Pirton or other antihistamine brand, stating what dosage to use. Also a syringe or medicine spoon to administer it.

Epipen

A photo of the child on top of the kit, along with emergency contact numbers for the parent (as it's easy then to call for advice / inform of hopitalisation without referring to files or care plan).

1. An informal chat with the parent to discuss what reactions they have experienced.

Other things that maybe useful:

Maybe revisit how to use the pen once a month (just doing it once a yr is too little in my opinion).

Epipens should be stored away from light and within a certain temperture range, if not stored correctly they become unusable (ask parent for details). They have expiry dates too - I renew mine every term (even if they within date) as it's an easy to renew everything at that point. This is something the parent should be on top of - but you might want to take a note of the expiry date .

It seems a lot to think about - but Epipens are rarely used, and once everything is in place you will have the confidence to use it when necessary.

I am very grateful to the teachers who help provide care for my son and appreciate it is an added task with a lot of responsibility. I'm sure your pupils' parent will be thankful of your help too!

Sorry this is long, but hope it helps.

And a very important thing to remember: it doesn't matter how well trained you and the rest of the staff is at the school you are, if there are no procedures in place to find the epipens quickly in the event of an emergency (says she whose child's school spent 40 minutes searching around the school to find out where they have placed the epipen, eventually finding it locked in a staff kitchen cabinet, a school that NEVER informed the endless stream of temporary teachers which children carried and epipen, and whose teachers also allowed other pupils to play hide and seek with the epipen kit)

It happens, just thinking about it makes me furious even when DS no longer attends that school.