First Aid Kit in Classrooms-What is considered unsafe?

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Hi. My school will be mounting first aid kits up on the wall of every classroom and I feel concerned about many items that came in the kit, such as:

BZK towelette-benzalkonium chloride wipes

first aid cream-benzalknium and lidocaine

neomycin antibiotic ointment

ammonia inhalant

scissor

tweezer

sterile buffered isotonic eye wash

instant ice pack-water and urea

triangular bandage

Which items would you take out of the kit and consider unsafe to keep in the classroom? I fear some of the items might accidentally get into the hands of children and I also fear teachers are not equipped to use some of the items. Also, there are certain items like antibiotic ointment which I've never applied on a child without a doctor's order.

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Our teachers have band aids for the minor cuts, some have first aid cream WITHOUT lidocaine. We don't even have anything with lidocaine in our health room, also no antibiotic cream. If the teachers need anything more than a band aid, they send them to the clinic. Ammonia Inhalants??? Really???

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Specializes in school nurse.

My classrooms have band-aids only. Any fresh cuts are washed with good ole soap and water. Anything more serious, it comes to me.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

i agree with some - i get a lot of crossed eyed looks from teachers when they ask why i didn't put neosporin on a child's cut (dumb nurse, they are thinking) but they clam up really quickly when i quietly mention how many children have antibiotic allergies and that the minor cut will be fine until they get home.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

If it's not too late ask them not to do it!!!! As mentioned above some of the teachers will take care of minor cuts but everything else is coming to you. And...are you going to be responsible for keeping the inventory to constantly restock these things when they get ransacked; which will happen unless you keep them padlocked, which is another pain.

Bad idea, bad idea.

During the swine flu season our district mounted these alcohol based atomized hand sanitizer dispensers throughout every school. Cost about a zillion dollars to do that and then they found out the refills were twice as expensive as the dispenser. Similar thing with first aid kits, it's expensive and a pain in the neck to buy the components of the kit separately. What you're gonna find out is that the kit will be mounted on the wall, fully stocked off the shelf, and eventually it'll just be an empty box.

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Our classrooms have band aids. I do offer a pair of gloves in case they need it. (Blood.)

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Specializes in critical care.

This seems incredibly silly to me, and I imagine the teachers feel reservations as well. Honestly WHY would they want to stop what they're doing, do wound care or whatever they think they need to do, and then have to get the classroom settled down again? Not only that, but they're licensed to teach, not assess for medical needs. What happens when a kid faints, wakes up after ammonia, then turns out to have some severe issue get ignored? NO WAY!

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

What do your state and school district allow to be dispensed without a provider's order and/or parental consent? Makes no sense to keep anything on hand in a classroom that might lead to compliance issues with the regulations that guide your practice as well as policy and procedure.

Vinyl gloves. Soap. Water. Bandaids. Maybe individual packets of petroleum jelly.

Anything else will probably cause more trouble than it's worth.

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Band Aids and gloves.

The thought of a teacher taking on more than that is laughable to me, actually. All good sense goes out the window. Leave it to The Nurse.

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Specializes in School nursing.

My classroom first aid kits have bandaids, gloves, gauze (just in case it's a bigger mess so they don't drip on the way to me), alcohol pads for minor cuts (most classrooms did not have sink and soap), and petroleum packets. Oh, and a couple of pads and tampons because I deal with grades 7-12 ;).

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My classroom first aid kits have bandaids, gloves, gauze (just in case it's a bigger mess so they don't drip on the way to me), alcohol pads for minor cuts (most classrooms did not have sink and soap), and petroleum packets. Oh, and a couple of pads and tampons because I deal with grades 7-12 ;).

I'm the Tampon Queen as well as The Butt Cheek Police.

All these teachers that are parents suddenly lose their ability to hand out pads or tell the kids to adhere to dress code as well.

Funny.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

i give out baggies of bandaids and little packets of lip balm to teachers that want them. I find that those that don't want them will just send the students anyhow. (they are just happy to have one less student - even if it's just for a moment) Those that do want them usually are the ones that never send me kids so I am more than happy to accommodate with some basics to keep the little things from making a kid disappear for 10 minutes. A fully stocked First Aid Kit seems like over kill to me. I suppose if maybe it were a college campus and you were the only health personnel and getting there might be a schlep, then i'd maybe think differently - but then you'd be dealing with adults so i would have a different mindset from the start.

Assuming that the OP's school is going through with this, are they going to bring someone in to teach the staff basic first aid?

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