Epipens and field trips

[chasinRT]

I have a kindergarten student with a severe peanut allergy who has an epipen. His teacher is trained but will not necessarily be with his group. Mom can't chaperone. What do you do in a circumstance such as this? Do you end up going on the field trip? I realize at this point I should have addressed this in his 504 meeting. Live and learn.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

This is why my middle school principal requests all of her teachers to be trained by me on Epi-pen use. That way a student that has one will always be in a group with a trained teacher. Not one teacher has refused to be trained. I can delegate Epi-pen admin on field trips to trained unlicensed personal in my state. It definitely gives me piece of mind!

But I have also started asking the students if they are aware of how to give Epi to themselves. Again, I deal with the older kids that often self carry (in and out of school) and realize I or another teacher may not be around when they actually need their Epi-pen in the real world. Most kids with severe allergies know exactly how to use it.

[OldDude]

This is why my middle school principal requests all of her teachers to be trained by me on Epi-pen use. That way a student that has one will always be in a group with a trained teacher. Not one teacher has refused to be trained. I can delegate Epi-pen admin on field trips to trained unlicensed personal in my state. It definitely gives me piece of mind!]

Totally agree...at the beginning of each school year I conduct, mandatory, allergy and epi administration training for all teachers and aides. The cafeteria has similar training for all their employees.