Fire Drill...

Flare, ASN, BSN · Mar 5, 2010

speaking as a school nurse and a former fire chief i realize the need for both getting out ASAP and protecting your students. It's a difficult balance.

Overall when there is a fire drill I reach for my go-bag, line up any students that are in my office and head for safety. My thought is that should there be a true incident - meaning not a drill and firetrucks and ambulance on scene and there also be a major need for something like an epi-pen (which our ambulances carry) or an inhaler (most students carry their own, but again, ambulance on scene can help) or anything else, i can probably manage it in the short term with my go-bag.

If it were an extended incident, chances are that children will be sent home or shuttled to nearby schools and parents contacted for a pick-up.

My biggest peeve as a firefighter is the doors not being closed - please remember and remind your staff to remember to shut their classroom/office door when leaving - it really does help to prevent fire spread.

lovepink · Mar 5, 2010

Thank you so much! If you dont mind me asking... whats in your go-bag? You're right, I hadnt really thought abou thte fact that if we were out there long, it would be because of a fire and there would be probably be paramedics there... :yawn: I must be really tired from a LONG week!

Thanks! You helped slow down my "worst case scenario" thoughts!!

mustlovepoodles, RN · Mar 5, 2010

At my school I am responsible to evacuate whoever is in the clinic ONLY. Everybody has their job and that is mine. I can't just send little kids out into the street without supervision while I patrol the halls. I take my go-bag, too. It has pretty much anything I'd need to treat minor injuries. I keep a couple juice boxes in there,too. I concur with the PP, if it's the real thing you're going to have lots of EMS personnel on site. They'll pretty much take over with anything beyond some scrapes and minor bug bites.

The only time I have not evacuated was once when I had a kid with a head injury who was vomiting. Since I knew it was a drill, I just notified the front office of the situation so they knew where I was. I needed to stay behind and take care of this boy while we awaited his mother's arrival, not stand around outside swatting mosquitos. :clown:

Flare, ASN, BSN · Mar 5, 2010

go bag is set up with mostly first aid stuff. bandages, bandaids, tape, coban, kling, gauze, ect.

I also have a set of heavy duty ems shears for any cutting emergency, a few tubes of cake frosting (works just as well as glucose gel and has no expiry)

stehoscope, bp cuff, penlight, bottle of eyewash with screw top, spray peroxide (got from school health and love it!) kwik cool ice packs, vomit "convenience" bags, tweezers, tube of vaseline, small ziploc baggies, safely pins and so forth. I will take a look at it on monday to see if i left out anything that may be out of the norm.

mustlovepoodles, RN · Mar 6, 2010

go bag is set up with mostly first aid stuff. bandages, bandaids, tape, coban, kling, gauze, ect.
I also have a set of heavy duty ems shears for any cutting emergency, a few tubes of cake frosting (works just as well as glucose gel and has no expiry)
stehoscope, bp cuff, penlight, bottle of eyewash with screw top, spray peroxide (got from school health and love it!) kwik cool ice packs, vomit "convenience" bags, tweezers, tube of vaseline, small ziploc baggies, safely pins and so forth. I will take a look at it on monday to see if i left out anything that may be out of the norm.

This is pretty much what mine has. I keep it in a gym bag and all the zippered pockets are stuffed. I don't use it often but when I need it, it's ready to go.

abreezies · Mar 6, 2010

I mostly do that same at my school as far as the nurses office, but our secretary has a big black bag that she keeps in the office full of more supplies and she takes that out as well (our offices are at opposite ends of the building), and if any of the teachers remember, they also grab the first aid kits out of each hallway on their way out as well.

missfixit · Mar 9, 2010

Your principal should let you know if you have any specific duties. You need to ask administration. I evacuate my office only and take my ER bags. I always go to the same place, that way if I am needed, I can be easliy found.

Nurse_Ziba · Mar 10, 2010

We have unannounced fire drills every semester and the evacuation time period gets better and better. We too are only responsible to evacuate the students/staff in the clinic. The ambulance is automatically brought to it's designated place and the medical staff (along with the patients) proceeds to the field with our medical supplies. We then establish a treatment station. The teachers are notified that their student is with us. We all have our own designated place in the open field. This way it would be easy to locate people.