Choking and CPR Procedures
At any time during a day in a school or child care facility accidents or emergencies may happen at any time. Staff preparedness is the first and foremost factor involved in an emergency. Children’s health records are a must. All emergency information and health records for the children should be available and easily accessible. This information should include contact information for the child’s parents and/or anyone else authorized by parents in case of an emergency. These health records should include contact information for the child’s health care providers and the name of the preferred hospital used for the child. A child’s health record should also contain and information about allergies the child has and what to do in the event of an allergic reaction. (Robertson, C. 2016)
A first aid kit should be well stocked and able to handle most emergency situations. The Staff members must be completely prepared to act quickly and correctly to save a child or even another staff member’s life by using CPR or first aid. The America Red Cross and The American Heart Association focus on training staff members from many different professions on saving lives in an emergency. The school or child care center should also have an (AED) automated external defibrillator as well. All staff should be trained to perform CPR on infants, children, and adults as well as how to use an AED unit to resuscitate a victim.
A list of back up helpers or substitute teachers should be available in any case a child has to be taken to a hospital. The backup teacher should be familiar with the child care center and the children. and should be competent in handling the children and managing the classroom in the teacher’s absence. (Robertson, C. 2016)
If a scenario arises, such as a four-year-old girl eating lunch at her child care facility when she has stopped breathing and is apparently choking on a piece of food. The first thing the teacher needs to do is respond quickly and remain calm. Other staff should keep the rest of the children calm and out of the way. Any other team staff member should quickly respond by calling 911 and be sure and to notify the parents or guardians immediately too. 
Since this scenario is dealing with a small child, the proper procedure for the teacher should be to lean the child forward and give 5 back blows with the heel of the palm between the child’s shoulder blades. The teacher should then give the child 5 quick upward abdominal thrusts. This should be done by placing the thumb side of your fist against the middle of the child’s stomach just above his navel. The teacher should grab their fist with their other hand and apply upward thrusts. This procedure of 5 back slaps and 5 abdominal thrusts should be repeated until the food is forced out or the child can forcefully cough on his own.
In a second possible scenario, the child could become unconscious, it is then when the teacher will have to begin performing CPR. The child should be lying flat on her back and her head should be tilted back and the chin lifted to help open the airway. The teacher should then do a finger sweep to try to dislodge the object in the throat. When the object is removed, the teacher should check for breathing. If the child is not yet breathing on her own, the teacher should continue with CPR. If the child is very small, such as an infant, you will slightly tilt back the head, place your mouth over both the nose and mouth proceeding with two breaths and chest compressions necessary to resuscitate a younger child. The child’s head should be tilted back with chin up to open her airway. The nose should be pinched so air doesn’t escape through the nose. With a micro shield in place, a seal should be formed over the child’s mouth and two breaths should be given, watching for the chest to rise as an indicator that air is going into the lungs. If the child’s chest does not rise, there may still be an object in the throat. The teacher should give 30 chest compressions and do another finger sweep then another two breaths. This should be continued in sequence until rescue workers arrive on the scene. When the rescue workers arrive, let them take over. 
Most teachers are trained and up to date for Heart Saver CPR (2017) and know exactly how to respond in an emergency such as this. All teachers and aides must know where the AED is located even though it is not used in most situations. Teachers and aides must know how to contact parents quickly to have them in route, no matter if it is to the hospital or facility, to meet with their child. The preparedness of the staff and the ability to work so well together will make an emergency become a calm, tolerable lifesaving event.
References
Cross, A. R. (2017, February). First aid for choking and CPR: An illustrated guide for children 12 months and older. Retrieved from Babycenter LLC.
Heartsaver First Aid, CPR & AED. (2017). Retrieved from American Heart Association, Inc.: http://cpr.heart.org/AHAECC/CPRAndECC/Training/HeartsaverCourses/HeartsaverFirstAidCPRAED/UCM_473177_Heartsaver-First-Aid-CPR-AED.jsp
Robertson, C. (2016). Safety, nutrition, and health in early education (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning.
Lot's of helpful information on CPR. I have had a hard time getting all teachers to do CPR and first aid. Did you know in some states it is not a requirement for teachers? In fact, if you try and hold conferences to get people certified on a staff developmental day, then lots of times teachers are already booked at other teaching conferences and can't make it. School's need to make CPR and First Aid mandatory because lots of times before calling the school nurse to come, they are the only ones in the building to respond to emergencies. Teachers should know these basic life saving skills since they are the first ones on the scenes most of the time.
ReplyDeleteMegan Spaulding
Megan,
DeleteI agree with you, it should be mandatory for all schools. In Texas, not all teachers are required to have the first aid classes, but the Principals and the Superintendent in our schools make sure all staff attend the mass class to certify each teacher for such a reason as you mention. I am sure our parents feel safer knowing all the teacher in our school systems are educated enough to perform life saving techniques if necessary. Emergencies are not scheduled so therefore we all need to know what to do. I even have posters on the wall in my laundry room at home as a reminder to all who live and visit there the importance of life saving techniques.
Very informative!
ReplyDeleteThanks again Heather!
DeleteHello Catherine,
ReplyDeleteYour paper is very informative. You explained step by step on what should be done for different age groups. A lot of people take this as a joke but never know the importance of knowing CPR. I think it is important for everyone to know how to perform CPR. It should not be a requirement for just medical professions but all professions. Both adults and children should be educated on the importance of CPR and what to do in case of an emergency, when to perform it, and how it should be properly performed. Dummies can be used while teaching this classes. You never know how important it is to know the basics and save someones life until it has happened to someone close to you. Thank you again for your informative paper.