Published
Were you the ones who implemented this in your school? I'd really love to get it started on my home campus (I'm not at my other 2 campuses enough to have it there, unfortunately) but I'm really not sure where to start with it. I realize I'll need standing orders and new policies etc. etc. Just curious to know what step 1 is!
Thank you in advance!
Don't reinvent the wheel until you have viewed National Association of School Nurses sample Epinephrine Policies, Protocols and Reporting
Mylan: Epipen staanding order
Epinephrine Policy Requirements - Maryland State
New Mexico: Standing order Moderate to Severe Allergic Reactions (Including Anaphylaxis)
Training Protocols for the Emergency ... - State of New Jersey
I'm in Texas :)
There is a new law this year in Texas that requires any school with stock epi autoinjectors to have someone trained to administer it on campus any time there are people in the building for a school sponsored activity. The epipens therefore have to be accessible at all times as well. Our district, in order to avoid extensive training for laypersons to administer stock epi to people with unknown allergens, pulled all the stock epipens from our clinics. We stock epi ampules, which are RN administration only, allowing the district to get around the new law, but still have epi available most of the time. Anyway, make sure you are considering all facets of this! Stock epi is fantastic. I had to administer one to an anaphylaxis case in a kid with no known allergies. It was terrifying, but I'm so grateful for it! I have mixed feelings about pulling the epipens, but am glad our schools still have some access to epi.
There is a new law this year in Texas that requires any school with stock epi autoinjectors to have someone trained to administer it on campus any time there are people in the building for a school sponsored activity. The epipens therefore have to be accessible at all times as well. Our district, in order to avoid extensive training for laypersons to administer stock epi to people with unknown allergens, pulled all the stock epipens from our clinics. We stock epi ampules, which are RN administration only, allowing the district to get around the new law, but still have epi available most of the time. Anyway, make sure you are considering all facets of this! Stock epi is fantastic. I had to administer one to an anaphylaxis case in a kid with no known allergies. It was terrifying, but I'm so grateful for it! I have mixed feelings about pulling the epipens, but am glad our schools still have some access to epi.
Oh wow. Thank you for this info! I'll definitely keep it at the forefront of my process!
There is a new law this year in Texas that requires any school with stock epi autoinjectors to have someone trained to administer it on campus any time there are people in the building for a school sponsored activity. The epipens therefore have to be accessible at all times as well. Our district, in order to avoid extensive training for laypersons to administer stock epi to people with unknown allergens, pulled all the stock epipens from our clinics. We stock epi ampules, which are RN administration only, allowing the district to get around the new law, but still have epi available most of the time. Anyway, make sure you are considering all facets of this! Stock epi is fantastic. I had to administer one to an anaphylaxis case in a kid with no known allergies. It was terrifying, but I'm so grateful for it! I have mixed feelings about pulling the epipens, but am glad our schools still have some access to epi.
It is the child with the unknown allergy that scares the beejeezubs out of me!!!
JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN
3,035 Posts
I started it. As folks mentioned up thread - do you have a school physician? If not, getting stock epi isn't easy. You need a doc to sign off on the prescription and have standing orders for its use to get Epi from epipens4schools.com.
PM though and I'll share my orders. Which I actually wrote and my physician was like "these look great" and signed them
.