Narcan for School Nurses?

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Are you all trained in using Narcan at your school?

I've used it in the hospital, but it looks like the push is to get Narcan at school.

I am going to go to NYSSED and research, but am curious about what you do.

Whew! Thank you school nurses! I was about to wilt on the vine here . . . !

(((Farawyn)))

:inlove:

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Specializes in Pedi.

My district has standing orders for narcan stocked at every school...even elementary. When we went through our training, the public health nurse instructing us pointed out that overdoses can occur up to 3 hours after using. At the elementary level, stocking narcan is with parents and staff in mind.

One word to the wise - a friend who is a paramedic with too much experience in this topic gave me a little advice...if the person is breathing but you suspect an OD, activate EMS first and then administer narcan. If it is an OD, the person will come out combative. If it is in the school setting, make sure you are not alone and know you have back up on the way.

Scary times...

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

We used to have standing orders for four point restraints prn with administration of narcan in the ED years ago for this very reason, then you could take a verbal for soft restraints as long as signed within the hour for staff & patient safety. Not everyone was combative but many were with strength often out of proportion to their size.

Even the first responder/PD & lay/family protocol is activate EMS/call 911 prior to administering if alone.

Is narcan at schools a bad thing? Not necessarily

Is mandatory stock narcan appropriate for every school? No. I think there are other priorities such as a nurse (whether RN or LPN with a regional RN oversight) in every school as opposed to designating medication & assessment to secretarial and teaching staff

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Teaching unlicensed staff at school to give EPI is one thing, but Narcan..... How will we ever teach these people to make an assessment for an overdose?? Come on nurses, don't turn your skills over to the world. If you give EPI - someone gets a buzz or you save their life... but Narcan is a different beast. Some states and districts don't even have an EPi- stock plan or protocol in place. Districts should consider the importance and safety of having an RN on every campus before starting to fill medicine cabinets for lay people to " crack " in an emergency.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

So i'm going to zombify this thread - the district, through an initiative through the county just had a few employees (including myself) take a narcan administration class. The thing is here that this "county initiative" group does these trainings and hands out these narcan kits to "concerned citizens" and family members that want to be prepared to save their loved ones. I voiced my displeasure but was essentially told by my boss - just do it. But what i am trying to impress upon them is that i don't believe the rules for school have changed that much - especially my pk-8 school. (there MAY be something in the hopper for high school here in my state) i don't believe narcan is a drug that can be delegated. I don't think all the pharmacies are even considering it otc yet - i think only some have a special permission and you have to i believe do something special to get it.

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Specializes in kids.

Ok I think I have end of the yearitis...I responded to this post several times and when I opened up AN just now, the title of the post just made me laugh.

Narcan for School Nurses??

Taken literally, I guess it could ask if school nurses need to take Narcan...have we been dipping into our med carts? Oye....

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.
So i'm going to zombify this thread - the district, through an initiative through the county just had a few employees (including myself) take a narcan administration class. The thing is here that this "county initiative" group does these trainings and hands out these narcan kits to "concerned citizens" and family members that want to be prepared to save their loved ones. I voiced my displeasure but was essentially told by my boss - just do it. But what i am trying to impress upon them is that i don't believe the rules for school have changed that much - especially my pk-8 school. (there MAY be something in the hopper for high school here in my state) i don't believe narcan is a drug that can be delegated. I don't think all the pharmacies are even considering it otc yet - i think only some have a special permission and you have to i believe do something special to get it.

I googled and found these:

NASN position statement:

Naloxone Use in the School Setting: The Role of the School Nurse (Adopted June 2

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Every school in my county has Narcan and all of the school nurses have training on it. We even have a card to carry so that we can get our own personal dose to carry with us. In the schools, it is a delegated task so the Health Assistants are able to give it if the RN has done the delegating.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.
I googled and found these:

NASN position statement:

Naloxone Use in the School Setting: The Role of the School Nurse (Adopted June 215) - SchoolNurseNetMain

This is the NJDoE implying Narcan can be delegated in certain circumstances. OH has similar rules but I didn't see a guidance document on the subject.

http://www.state.nj.us/education/nonpublic/opportunities/052416Opioid.pdf But not all districts or school physicians permit delegation to anyone other than a licensed medical professional.

And this commentary: Commentary: Naloxone Use in Schools: School Nurses on the Front Lines - Partnership for Drug-Free Kids - Where Families Find Answers

Not sure if any of this will help you.

This is all incredibly helpful as i have been looking for all of this info but have been having a hard time finding it - i guess it's all in what you google ;) - would have been nice of my admin to share that memo from the state with me from over a year ago so we could help draft a policy together

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Specializes in kids.
This is all incredibly helpful as i have been looking for all of this info but have been having a hard time finding it - i guess it's all in what you google ;) - would have been nice of my admin to share that memo from the state with me from over a year ago so we could help draft a policy together

In New Hampshire, the NHSNA drafted a position statement

https://nhsna.wildapricot.org/resources/Documents/FINAL%20Draft%20Naloxone%20Use%20in%20the%20School%20Setting%20Committee%20work%20(1).pdf

supporting the use of Narcan in the schools, but left it to local control. Politics is a very strange thing here in NH and local control over MANY things is HUGE!!! There are cities with Fire and EMS right around the corner and towns with a 30 minute response based on the lack of fulltime Fire and EMS , relying on volunteers.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

While I do see the merits for having it, my argument against it is that I work in a small town with fast PD response where the police all carry narcan. Even the neighboring police. So now, I've gone to a training and was given the narcan this time through some grant. This will (hopefully) sit on my shelf and collect a healthy layer of dust until I toss it when it expires and then what? The genie is out of the bottle so I feel obligated to stock it once we have a policy in place - but at $75 bucks a year or so - it seems silly. Especially when I'm over here getting my chops busted for sending out a mass mailing for state required vaccines. (oh, no Flare- you should have sent that by email or post on website. Uh, yeah... I am sure that will get checked)

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