Anaphylaxis - Canadian School Boards Association

Anaphylaxis:A Handbook for School Boards• Caution children not to throw sticks or stones at insect nests.• Allow students who are anaphylactic to insect stings to remain indoors for recess during bee/waspseason.• Immediately remove a child with allergy to insect venom from the room if a bee or wasp gets in.In case of insect stings, never slap or brush the insect off, and never pinch the stinger if the child is stung.Instead, flick the stinger out with a fingernail or credit card.Emergency response planEven when precautions are taken, an anaphylactic student may come into contact with an allergen while atschool. It is essential that the school develop a response plan and that all staff be aware of how toimplement it. A separate emergency plan should be developed for each anaphylactic child, in conjunctionwith the child’s parents and physician, and kept in a readily accessible location. The plan should clearlyidentify individual roles.Anaphylactic children usually know when a reaction is taking place. School personnel should beencouraged to listen to the child. If he or she complains of any symptoms that could signal the onset of areaction, staff should not hesitate to implement the emergency response. There is no danger in reacting tooquickly and grave danger in reacting too slowly.School boards should be aware of local ambulance regulations and take them into account whendeveloping their own procedures. In some cases, ambulance attendants are not qualified to administerepinephrine. In some jurisdictions, school staff are not permitted to accompany the child in the ambulance.A. Every emergency plan should include procedures to:• communicate the emergency rapidly to a staff person who is trained in the use of an auto-injector• administer the auto-injector (Note: Those in positions of responsibility should never assume thatchildren or teens will self-inject. Individuals of any age may require help during a reaction because ofthe rapid progression of symptoms or because of the stress of the situation. Adult intervention oraction is required.)• telephone 911 or an ambulance — inform the emergency operator that a child is having ananaphylactic reaction; in some areas, hospitals will send a physician on the ambulance to beginemergency treatment at once• if no ambulance service is available, transport the child to hospital at once with at least one adult aswell as the driver — school boards should ensure that their insurance policies cover such anemergency situation• telephone the hospital to inform them that a child having an anaphylactic reaction is en route• if transportation is by car, provincial police should be notified and provided with a description of thevehicle and licence number• telephone the parents of the child• re-administer epinephrine every 10 to 20 minutes while waiting for the ambulance and en route to thehospital if symptoms do not improve or reoccur• assign a staff person to take extra auto-injectors, accompany the child to the hospital, and stay withhim or her until a parent or guardian arrives — an adult should accompany the child in theambulance as this can be a particularly traumatic experience• see Appendices G1 – G2 for sample emergency response plans35