NJ School Nurse- EpiPens??

[linda1959]

My question for fellow NJ school nurses – We now have a new law that requires us to keep stock Epi on hand for the student with an unknown, first time anaphylactic reaction at school.

There is no mention in the law that we need to cover students when they are out of the building on a trip. Do you agree that we are only responsible to have a nurse or delegate available WHILE they are in school, and not if they are out of the building?

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

No, I disagree. The law states that students need coverage for school and school sponsored functions. This would include field trips.

[Windchaser22]

I agree with Flare. There should at least be a delegate on the trip with a stock epi on hand.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Isn't epi a drug that can be delegated? I know in my friend's school the MS & HS PE teachers and school coaches & the AT are all cleared to carry & administer epipens especially if out on the track or one of the fields where it could be 15+ minutes to get someone from the building to come out. They have an epi pen in the emergency kit brought out with the class, to any games (home or away).

The life skills teachers (lots of community field trips) many of the paras, and all coaches & PE teachers in my son's district are trained to assist with MDIs and delegates for EpiPens. The school nurses conduct training during the pre-school in-services.

I was in the office the first day of school. She was going through the forms of an extra 15+ staff volunteers this year after a near emergency last year. Many wanted to know what to do just in case. They also have an AED in 3 locations.

[linda1959]

I went back and re-read the law again. Apparently, the first three times "school sponsored events" didn't register in my brain. But that said, they only refer to school sponsored events when referring to the student with a known allergen and an MD order.

(1) the placement of a pupil's prescribed epinephrine in a secure

2 but unlocked location easily accessible by the school nurse and

3 designees to ensure prompt availability in the event of an allergic

4 emergency at school or at a school-sponsored function.

When they refer to the student without a known allergen who might have a first time event, they only talk about having the stock epi-pen available at school, and do not refer to school sponsored events.

The reason I am pressing this and trying to clarify is because I might have 2-3 three groups of students out of the building at a time on trips to different places. If you are a nurse in this position, have you just purchased extra epi-pens so there is always one with a delegate if they take students out of the building?

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

Big deep sigh.

We had that law passed here in California last year. Fortunately CSNO (Californa School Nurse Organization) stepped up to the plate and wrote P&P for all the school nurses in California. Scroll down on the website below and look for epi-pen.

California School Nurses Organization - HOME

The trick was getting a physician to write the order. When the law was first drafted, physicians were against it. Still are for the most part. Most schools out here don't have a "staff" physician. It took us months to finally find one and only THIS year got the epi-pens and the training.

And no, the stock epi-pens cannot leave campus. We only have one box of two epi-pens on campus for the older kids and one box of two/Adult and Junior sizes on each elementary campus. You cannot take that stock epi-pen on a field trip. The law also forgot all about buses.

We had our first anaphylaxis incident a couple of weeks ago and the ER physician threw a tizzy that the schools were allowed to have stock epi.

We had a field trip the same day 75 miles away where a student had an anaphylaxis episode and the only option was 911.

The law makers do not understand medicine or schools. They write ridiculous laws and then mandate that we find a way to implement them.

This is my rant for the day. Off the soapbox.