School Nurses Work Out Compromise on School Health Bill
From the Times:
Potentially lifesaving allergy medication may soon be available to more students, thanks to an agreement reached last week by lawmakers and a school-nurses organization that had initially opposed the proposal due to safety and legal concerns.
The now-amended Senate Bill 5104, likely to be approved this session, would allow schools around the state to stockpile epinephrine, which can be used to prevent or stop severe allergic reactions that can kill within minutes.
School staffers have only been able to inject students who have been diagnosed with an allergy. And the schools cannot currently store extra epinephrine, to be used in emergencies, or use one student’s EpiPen on another student.
Under the amended bill, school nurses would be able to use epinephrine on any student, regardless of whether the student has been diagnosed.
Other school employees, if designated and trained by the nurse, would be able to use epinephrine on diagnosed students.
The amended bill would not allow all school employees to use epinephrine on undiagnosed students, as an original version approved by the state Senate allowed.
A leader of the School Nurse Organization of Washington, a volunteer professional organization that promotes quality school nursing, said that would conflict with a state law that prohibits nurses from delegating the responsibility of diagnosing ailments.
The organization opposed the bill’s original version, sending a letter to members of the state House Education Committee, because of the provision on non-nurses giving epinephrine to undiagnosed students.
The bill now moves on to the House.
Potentially lifesaving allergy medication may soon be available to more students, thanks to an agreement reached last week by lawmakers and a school-nurses organization that had initially opposed the proposal due to safety and legal concerns.
The now-amended Senate Bill 5104, likely to be approved this session, would allow schools around the state to stockpile epinephrine, which can be used to prevent or stop severe allergic reactions that can kill within minutes.
School staffers have only been able to inject students who have been diagnosed with an allergy. And the schools cannot currently store extra epinephrine, to be used in emergencies, or use one student’s EpiPen on another student.
Under the amended bill, school nurses would be able to use epinephrine on any student, regardless of whether the student has been diagnosed.
Other school employees, if designated and trained by the nurse, would be able to use epinephrine on diagnosed students.
The amended bill would not allow all school employees to use epinephrine on undiagnosed students, as an original version approved by the state Senate allowed.
A leader of the School Nurse Organization of Washington, a volunteer professional organization that promotes quality school nursing, said that would conflict with a state law that prohibits nurses from delegating the responsibility of diagnosing ailments.
The organization opposed the bill’s original version, sending a letter to members of the state House Education Committee, because of the provision on non-nurses giving epinephrine to undiagnosed students.
The bill now moves on to the House.
Comments
Schools also need to do a better job of being sure classrooms and cafeterias are -at minimum- nut free. And someone on field trips is trained, legally able to give an epi shot, and has an epi along. The district is very lax about assuring this happens. Emergencies can and do happen at any time and in any place.
EdVoter
-has kids with allergies
The fact that the school nurses opposed the original bill, but worked with legislators to amend it, is the way these things are supposed to work. Our oldest son has food allergies, and the nurses have always trained the teachers and bus drivers how to use an EpiPen at the start of the new school year, so the amendment makes perfect sense to me.
-- Ebenezer
TS
-has kids with allergies
Seconds and minutes count during anaphylaxis. Response times from EMS vary from state to state. School nurses need access to this life saving drug.
The National Association of School Nurses has Epinephrine School Resource Nurses in most every state. Check out the information on their site. www.nasn.org
Again, I can't stress enough how seconds count and school nurses need access to Epinephrine Auto Injectors.