Ashma Management in school children

[girliegirlRN]

Hello fellow nurses,I'd like to know if your schools have a protocol for children with Asthma. Are there set procedures that you are required to follow for your really bad asthmatics? You know, the ones who are in your clinic one or two times a day with an asthma attack. Is there a generic management plan in place that you require the parent and physician to complete? I'm doing a project on school children dealing with asthma and how it affects their attendance as well as their class work. I'll then be required to come up with an asthma management plan to present to the district that will hopefully help keep these kids absences down and improve their school work. Any input would be greatly appreciated from you experts actually working in this field. :) thanks in advance.

[MinnieMomRN]

No. There is no generic plan. I get the MD orders for inhaler use and epi use if needed. I meet with the child for assessment and discuss challenges faced. From that I write an ihp specific to that child to manage the asthma for that child. For your project, I suggest you create a fictional child and create an case study to present based on what you have researched as common problems faced by an asthmatic student in the school setting. Use peer-reviewed journal articles to support your work.

ps. If a kid is in my office "2-3 times a day", their asthma is not being managed and it needs to be addressed with the MD.

Good luck with your project.

[Jolie, BSN]

I agree with MinnieMom that there is no generic management plan that would fit all students with asthma, and also agree that if you are seeing a student multiple times per week, let alone twice a day, that child needs further medical evaluation.

Perhaps you could sketch out a generic "timeline" for these students. For example, in the spring, send letters to parents of students with asthma, encouraging a physician appointment over the summer. Include medication authorization forms to be completed for students who need to have inhalers/spirometers/etc. at school. Ask for a report of the appointment to be forwarded to you with recommendations for care at school. Use those recommendations to devise an individual plan and review it with parents/student prior to the start of school.

This sounds time consuming, and it is. But with these kids, and ounce of planning and prior communication is worth a pound in preventing flare-ups and providing better management.

If your school doesn't already do so, perhaps you can use this example as a justification for you to have paid time before the start of the school year to plan and prepare for students with special health needs. I am certain that it will payoff in better student attendance, which often means more state reimbursement for your district.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

the asthma coalition in my state puts out a standard for for use in schools, but this is not necessarily the only form we will accept. Beyond that then student's asthma plans are as unique as the students themselves. Even as far as developing ihp's goes, not every asthmatic student will require an ihp.

[100kids, BSN, RN]

All of my students with asthma have their own individualized plan depending upon their doctor's orders and needs.