American Camp Nurses (ACA)

[dragonheart, MSN]

The best reference for what is happening, to get involved in decision making/support as well as what direction camp nurse practice is heading is

http://www.aca.org

http://www.campnurse.org

ACA acredits over 2,400 camps and works closely with other youth-serving organizations

i.e. American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, American Academy of Pediatrics, Boy Scouts of America, Girl Scouts of America, Camp Fire USA to name a few ....

I have found that I can get answers specific to the areas for which I serve as a consultant in a single location

The state regulations database is easily accessed from this site

Each state regulations are what is needed. The comments and opinions I find supportive and informative but when I needed to know regulations this was the source

Public Policy committees are active in researching and advising change in practice at the national, state and local level . These committees are composed or RNs, MDs, legislators, insurance companies, national organizations representing specific illnesses i.e asthma

The Healthy Research Study 2006-2010 is ongoing and new camp participation is welcomed

sample finding :

injuries are more likely to occur midweek(Wednesday and Thursday) and between the hours of 12N-6PM

Camp research is used to : enhance the quality of the camp experience, understand, the importance of the camp experience, connect and collaborate, and improve camp business operations

some of the findings that have supported and helped me understand changes has been are posted in the ACA Compass Point magazine :

December 2007

Best Practices for Medication Management by Day and Resident Camps

Recommendations for Managing Asthma at Camp -based on the NAEPP-National Association of Asthma Education and Prevention Program

June 2008

Camper Medications and Medical Issues (excerpt)

...more than 71% of camp directors report that campers who are taking medications have increased over the past three years

campers are taking more medications and there is grater variety in the types of medication brought to camp

I first logged onto Allnurses in hopes to find out what was going on in terms of prescriptive authority . I found support and encouragement

What I have learned from ACA web site research, attending local new regulations forums offered by the states and District is that due to the ever increasing complexity of medications and camper history physicians in general are less willing to give blanket consent to medicate someone sight unseen .

The insurance companies are advising us(MD and RN alike ) to take a risk aversion position ... thus it is becoming more common than not .

The result has been that the camper's physician is asked to provide individual camper specific prescriptive authority .

This takes us to the health history when giving any OTC medication (commonly used over the counter medications such as (Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Benadryl, Neosporin)

Looking at mediation administration of any kind from this approach, it makes sense to ensure that we do the patient no unintentional harm by giving a medication that we can have no way of knowing adverse reaction based on medication or history we are unaware of at the camp site level

The state regulations take us back to nursing practice in terms of what delegated prescriptive authority means at the camp level i.e. this includes camps that use first aiders who are not certified EMT, military medics, ....

I rely on Allnurses for peer support and barometer of what are emerging or current issues/concerns..

I use ACA for research based informed decision making re: camp first aid practice /intervention

First hand experience

I have found that as a camp nurse is often more important in terms of bee stings, especially multiple to know about baking soda paste and ice water than to have permission to administer benadryl

This comes from having been int he situation where a camper was allergic to benadryl and one who was not. Both suffering multiple bee stings and were brought to first aid.

I mixed the baking soda paste places it on all sting areas

let it dry scraped it off with handle of plastic spoon

placed ice water in baggies and large handkerchiefs girls are asked to bring to camp to dry hands etc

Since I could not offer benadryl to one camper I got to see the outcome of this impromptu, situation -driven study

Both girls felt better after about 20 minutes . Both physicians commented to parents that the comfort issue was definitely addressed best by the baking soda because the stings were no longer inflammed.

Neither physician had ever heard of that intervention, neither had ever been camp physicians or knew of anyone stung at camp .....

Of course toxin release can occur again in heat related conditions(camp) so Benadryl was prescribed for one the other girl was prescribed a different medication

[troop742]

Just to clarify-the actual nurse group is the Association of Camp Nurses (ACN), and the camp group is the American Camp Assn. (ACA). They do partner quite well, and you were right on with the two web sites, but the titles were off. They are both a wealth of knowledge, and, as a member of ACN, I can vouch for the quality of Compass Point, their newsletter. Just sign me blissfully getting ready for 4 weeks of Concordia Language Village,

Heather

[pedsrnsrock]

I have visited the ACN website and found it to be very helpful, as far as job postings go. I am new to the idea of camp nursing, and have lots of questions. I am currently a peds nurse on a very busy unit in the Central Valley, CA. Interested in New England area for next summer (2009). When is the appropriate time to apply for these positions? Anybody have any experience with this area or have any recommendations? Thanks :heartbeat