10 Caring for Minor Injuries and Preparing for and Managing Emergencies
10 Caring for Minor Injuries and Preparing for and Managing Emergencies
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
-
List items to include in first aid and emergency kits.
-
Outline the responses to minor cuts and scrapes, burns, broken bones, head injuries, bites, and foreign objects in the body.
-
Describe the lifesaving responses to severe bleeding, choking, and not breathing or being without a pulse.
-
Discuss lost or missing child prevention and response.
-
Explain response to unauthorized persons on the premises.
-
Identify potential disasters and emergencies that early care and education programs should prepare for.
-
Summarize the three phases of emergency management (preparedness, response, and recovery).
-
Distinguish when to use each type of emergency response (evacuation, sheltering in place, and lockdown).
|
LICENSING REGULATIONS WAC Regulations that relate to this chapter include:
110-300-0465 EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS PLAN
110-300-0106 TRAINING REQUIREMENTS
110-300-0455 ATTENDANCE RECORDS
|
Introduction
An emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening of the situation. Some emergencies will be obvious (such as natural disasters), but others will require early childhood educators to decide if it truly is an emergency.[1]
Once an emergency has been identified, it’s important to know what to do. This chapter introduces different first aid and emergency medical responses, the phases of a disaster, and more information about a few different types of emergencies.
Basic First Aid
“Minor accidents and unintentional childhood injuries are not unusual in the child care setting. Even with careful supervision, children frequently sustain scrapes, bruises, cuts, bites, and falls in the normal course of their day. Less frequently, medical emergencies…may require immediate intervention and treatment.”[2]
|
FIRST AID KITS
Here is a recommended list of supplies for the first aid kit (modified from the Emergency First Aid Guidelines for California Schools):
|
Minor Cuts and Scrapes
Before performing first aid for minor cuts and scrapes, early childhood educators should wash their hands and apply gloves. The cut or scrape should then be washed with cool water. The surrounding area can be washed with soap, but soap should not get into the wound. The cool water will wash away any debris that may be in the wound and will help blood vessels to constrict (become narrower), which helps to stop bleeding. Once the area is clean and the blood has decreased, place gentle pressure on the wound with a clean and sterile gauze pad. If the first gauze saturates with blood, add additional gauze pads. Gauze pads should not be removed, as this could cause any clots that have begun to form to be removed and bleeding to continue. When the wound has stopped bleeding, the cut or scrape can be covered by a clean bandage. Be sure to