Fyi

[Tippy-ta-ta]

did you know that in the state of Oklahoma the public school employees are not required to have any CPR/First Aid training. my 4 yo daugther recently fell at school and hit her head, she was bleeding pretty bad and the school nurse had called me because she felt that she needed stitches. Thankfully she didn't I took her to the ER and the doc said that it was more superficial and that she woulnd't need stitches.

When I asked her teacher about whether or not she was certified in CPR/fFirst Aid training, she said she was but that it is not required for them. But most of them are. BUT NOT REQUIRED ???

That floors me. It really scares me to know that if my child were to fall on the playground, become unconcsious and/or unresponsive that there MIGHT be someone there who would know what to do at that very moment, rather than spend 5 minutes trying to find someone who does. that 5 minutes could determine life or death for my child.

It really scares me...

I sent an e-mail to the State Education Superintendent regarding this. I am considering going to my state rep, congressmen, senator, legislator.ect. To get it to be mandatory that ALL public school employees be certified in CPR/First Aid.

[Tippy-ta-ta]

You sound like a good candidate for homeschooling. I think it's a viable option for many people, I'll bet there are some homeschoolers here at AN!

can't afford to homeschool..i need to work. and why is it too much to ask that teachers have CPR training?

[DA314]

can't afford to homeschool..i need to work. and why is it too much to ask that teachers have CPR training?

Parents seem to expect more and more out of teachers these days.

If two kids get into a physical altercation, people blame the teacher.

If a child doesn't study or do their homework, and therefore fails the class/grade, people blame the teacher.

If Susie won't talk to Jimmie and Jimmie's feelings are hurt, people blame the teacher.

A teacher is there to educate the child. Not to be the disciplinarian (although a degree of discipline is necessary), or the private tutor, or the counselor, or the nurse.

Most schools (especially elementary/middle schools) have a school nurse on duty. Or at least a "clinic" worker who has to be BLS certified.

Your question is like asking a teacher "I know you already get a ton of heat from parents/principals/students, and work from sun-up to sundown, grading papers and making lesson plans in your time off, and get paid a beggar's salary, but please, please, could I require you take on one more responsibilty? "

As an overworked CNA, I'm sure you can appreciate that side of things.

[Tippy-ta-ta]

What about the workers at chuck-e Cheese? How about the fair employees? Workers at McDonald's? Ice cream man? Big sis who babysits sometimes?

normally my kids would not be at chuck-e-cheese, the fair, Mcdonald's without me and the ice cream man would be outside my home. and Big Sis who babysits?? If they had one..would know CPR. I was trained in CPR when I was 13. The local hosp offered a "babysitting" class for teenage girls. I took it and I became the neighborhood babysitter because of that. The parents felt safe that i was certified in CPR. Thankfully i did not have to use anything like that when I was babysitting, but I did have to do the heimlich on my daughter when she was 3 and choking on a piece of popcorn. she didn't lose conciousness, but she wheezing enough to scare me.

In a perfect world, everyone would know basic life support. But we can't require it for everyone. Maybe a better take on this would be for the school to offer CPR training 2x per year, and then the teachers can come if they want. They could charge the normal rate for it, then the school wouldn't have to shell out the $$ to get them certified. I'd bet a lot of teachers would attend.

that would be an option, but why not go further and lobby it with the state legislature? Many laws have been lobbied by concerned parents.

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

I personally think a worse crime is the life-shortening, poor excuse for food the school cafeteria feeds the kids. Another big threat to the kiddos health would be the lack of PE and recess time. Those are far bigger threats to the over all health of the pupils.

[Tippy-ta-ta]

parents seem to expect more and more out of teachers these days.

if two kids get into a physical altercation, people blame the teacher.

if a child doesn't study or do their homework, and therefore fails the class/grade, people blame the teacher.

if susie won't talk to jimmie and jimmie's feelings are hurt, people blame the teacher.

a teacher is there to educate the child. not to be the disciplinarian (although a degree of discipline is necessary), or the private tutor, or the counselor, or the nurse.

most schools (especially elementary/middle schools) have a school nurse on duty. or at least a "clinic" worker who has to be bls certified.

your question is like asking a teacher "i know you already get a ton of heat from parents/principals/students, and work from sun-up to sundown, grading papers and making lesson plans in your time off, and get paid a beggar's salary, but please, please, could i require you take on one more responsibilty? "

as an overworked cna, i'm sure you can appreciate that side of things.

no i don't..these are my kids. why should i not lobby for there safety while at school???

i don't blame the teacher if my child does not do there homework, that is my responsibility to be sure that that gets done. i don't blame the teacher if my child gets bullied, but if the school has a strict no-bullying policy i will be the parent who will be sure that that policy is enforced. and if my child is in the care of their teacher i expect that teacher to have my childs best interest at heart and protect them if the need arises and not cower under a desk.

jmpv

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

The insulin/ glucagon issue is starting to rear it's head in my state right now. In fact, i spoke to some of my teachers today and asked tehir opinions. Most could not get to their computers fast enough to lobby against the legistature for delegating the responsibility of diabetics to non-nursing staff. As a school nurse I really don't want to delegate the task of giving insulin or glucagon to a teacher. If they misread the signs and symptoms or give the wrong dosage it's my license and my butt on the line for having delegated to them. And the bottom line with that is that a one time training with an annual refresher is all that's being asked for with that responsibility - that is it - i personally don't think that a person who has very little to no medical training otherwise could be reasonably asked to do. I know i would not necessarily feel comfortable expecting non-nursing staff in a school to have to possibly be the one to give my diabetic child insulin of glucagon.

Teachers are being expected to take on more and more responsibility and liability ( and school nurses too!) and take classes to learn these skills on their own time. It is VERY rare that i hear of a teacher being paid extra duty pay to be on an emergency response team. I am not saying that it would not be nice if all school personnel were cpr certified (it would certainly get me a lot of business)- i am just saying that a lot of teachers feel that they are being stretched to the limit as it is and unless you plan on paying them for the extra responsibility, you can't expect that they will happily take on what most of them think is a huge liability.

[DA314]

she didn't lose conciousness, but she wheezing enough to scare me.

I'm not trying to be smart here, I really want to know, as I'm new to the wonderful world of health care, but if someone is wheezing or couging, aren't you supposed to hit their back and encourage coughing? That is what I was taught last week in my CPR class.

[DA314]

No I don't..these are my kids. Why should I not lobby for there safety while at school???

Is an on-site school nurse not sufficient? It's not like kids choke or have fibrilating hearts everyday.

Everyone has their cause, if this means that much to you, I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. I personally think the education system has much bigger fish to fry.

[bobnurse]

I'm not trying to be smart here, I really want to know, as I'm new to the wonderful world of health care, but if someone is wheezing or couging, aren't you supposed to hit their back and encourage coughing? That is what I was taught last week in my CPR class.

No, you are not suppose to hit their back. You could cause further airway compromise. If they are coughing, then their airway is open and they most likely will be able to clear their own airway.

Back blows will do nothing for wheezing.........

[bobnurse]

About 5 or 6 years ago in oklahoma a child died in the early morning d/t choking on her breakfast. The teachers were not BLS trained and stood there and waited for EMS/Fire to arrive. The child did not make it.

This made the news and was a pretty big thing, but as you can see, it did very little as far as requiring BLS/First Aid training for teachers.

[DA314]

Thank you Bob- that is good to know.

[Tippy-ta-ta]

Is an on-site school nurse not sufficient? It's not like kids choke or have fibrilating hearts everyday.

Everyone has their cause, if this means that much to you, I'm not going to try to convince you otherwise. I personally think the education system has much bigger fish to fry.

the on-site school nurse is very sufficient. But what if that nurse is not there that day? and kids do choke everyday and some do have heart disease. just because not all cases make national news does not mean that it does not happen.

yes the education system does need some work, but why not include some basic first aid? Anybody can take first aid thru the red cross. Why can't the teachers? why shouldn't it be necessary? I work in a mental health clinic and everyone here from therapist to billing personell need to be CPR certified every 2 yrs. What are the chances that someone is gonna have a heart attack or fall and break there leg? Probably the same as with it happeing at school.