Emergency Meds in 2 locations?

[cmh1118, BSN]

Hi everyone,

I'm a school nurse for around 500 kids, Pre-K to 8.

I have ~30 epi-pens, 3 hemophiliacs, and 2 epileptics.

We just added a new 'activity center' to our school, separate from our school building, where art/music/PE will be now.

My question is.......do I ask for 2 meds from everyone (so expensive!) or just run sprint them over if they need them? I'd hate to think I was away from my office or whatnot and someone had an issue. If they were in the building, I could easily sprint down to my office for their meds. But now I'd have to run down, grab their meds, then run to the next building.

-There will be no food/drinks in the new building and most of my epi's are for food allergies. Luckily I've never had to use one at this school.

-My hemophiliac kiddos have medicine but it's really just for EMTs to administer when they arrive. All of those kids' hematologists have strongly stated no one is to administer those meds except their parents, their doctors, or emergency personnel. So I don't know if I'd really need a second set, since I can easily get theirs before an ambulance arrives.

-My epileptics are the ones I'm most concerned about since their meds are so specific and time sensitive with the seizures, etc. Their meds are given if seizures last more than 5 minutes, so I'd have to run down, grab their meds, and then sprint to them....while hoping someone is timing it at the scene.

What does your school do if you have multiple building locations? It's a good 3-5 minute walk from my nurse office to the other building, sprinting maybe 2 :)

Thanks for any input, I'm kind of stressing out and at a loss right now since we've always had one building. I don't want to make the parents pay for a second expensive medication that will (hopefully) never be used........but I know it's not worth the risk when we one day truly need it.

I appreciate any feedback!!

[purplewaves45]

Does your school have any stock epi pens? If so could you just keep one of those in the new area? That way you (or whomever) will have quick access to epi. If it was used, could switch out with the students own epi?

[cmh1118, BSN]

Does your school have any stock epi pens? If so could you just keep one of those in the new area? That way you (or whomever) will have quick access to epi. If it was used, could switch out with the students own epi?

I was thinking about that....we may be getting the stock epi pens this year. My bigger concern was the epileptics. Thanks for the reply! It reminds me to ask about the stock meds since that's new to us.

[mediwizard]

I was thinking about that....we may be getting the stock epi pens this year. My bigger concern was the epileptics. Thanks for the reply! It reminds me to ask about the stock meds since that's new to us.

Why not bring this to the parents? If I were a parent of a child prone to having seizures, I would gladly provide another set of medications to keep in this building. I do understand that not everybody has the financial means, I do not have extra money either, to just buy extra medications. Is there community resources or even government aid that can be used to supply for the extra seizure/epi pen meds? If so, maybe bring that up to the admin of your school or apply for it yourself, if you are allowed to do it.

[grammy1]

Can the medication be kept with the student? It could be kept in their classroom and be handed off from one teacher to the other when they go into the new building? Our 7th and 8th graders usually carry their own, but I know you can't trust the littles to do that.