It is quite stressful to deal with emergencies at school. You shoulder the responsibility of the students until they are in your school premises and so, it is solely you moral duty to provide them with proper care and immediate medical attention if at all such a situation arises. Not that you may be reluctant to provide care to your injured students; but at times, it gets quite daunting, specially when you are new in dealing with such situations. So its good to stay equipped with all the tools and knowledge that may help you to serve your injured students better. Today, we are going to take a look at the most common types of injuries that occur in schools and learn how to deal with them. Cuts The most common type of injury that majority of children face in schools is getting cuts or bruised. It may happen while playing or may occur while fighting. There are multiple reasons for it, but what it calls for is immediate treatment of them, so as to avoid further complications. First of all, the bleeding has to be stopped before you apply anything on the cut. There are nonprescription products that you can keep in your school’s first-aid kit. Apply them on the skin and make the bleeding to stop. After the bleeding is stopped, examine the degree of the caused injury. Is it deep? Or is it just superficial? Based on this the entire line of treatment to be followed will be decided. Don’t things upon yourself if you feel that the cut is very bad. Approach a doctor immediately for treatment. If the wound looks manageable then go ahead with cleaning it. Do this as soon as possible so as to reduce the chances of infection, scarring and tattooing of the skin from the dirt that is left in the wound. If the wound is caused by falling on ground or in some kind of pebbles or rocks then there are going to be large pieces of dirt in the wound. Remove them using sterilised tweezers. However, remember not to push the tweezers deep inside the cut. Have a gentle grip on them and use them with a very light hand. Wash the wound for five minutes with large amounts of cool and clean water. There are some nonprescription products that you may get over the counter, for cleaning wounds. Have them in your first-aid kit too. Use them in such situations for cleaning and disinfecting the wound completely. Remember not to wash the wound with rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, iodine or Mercurochrome as using these cleaning agents can harm the student’s tissues and slow the healing process. After the wound is clean, determine if it will require a doctor’s attention to close it or would mere dressing would do the work. If the later one is enough to treat the wound, then start with the dressing procedure. Firstly wipe the area around the wound, dry using a clean towel. Then, apply medicated ointment over it, cover it with cotton and then firm it using a tape or a bandage. Chocking Children between the age group of 2-6 tend to eat inedible things such as plastic toys, stones, chalks, etc. there may be times when such things may get obstructed in their throat, thereby chocking them. You can make out if any kid is chocking on anything by looking at the way they cough. First step in such situations is not to panic. Staying calm will help you remember the ways to deal with chocking, in a better manner. Make an approach to the kid calmly and let them cough. Give them support and stroke their back to help them cough out the foreign object in their throat. However if the matter gets worse and if they start falling short of breath then you will have to get into action. For this, hold the child from back. See that your wrap your arms around their waist. If the kid is standing then place your leg between their legs, so as to support them if they faint. After you take the right position, ball one hand into a fist and place the thumb of your fist against the kid’s belly, just above the belly button but well below the breastbone. Grasp your fist with other hand and give a quick upward thrust into the belly. This should cause the object to pop out. You will be required to use extra force if the kid is obese or if an elder boy or girl is chocking on anything. If the object doesn’t pop out, keeping repeating the thrust till you gain success in your attempts. Burns There are different types of burns and each type needs a specific treatment. Heat burns: For treating heat burns, exhaust the flames using blankets or water. If the clothing of the student catches fire, try to stop them from running. Grasp them with a large cloth, bring them down to the floor and get them to roll. This will put off the flames. After the flames go off, check the degree of burns. If it is sever then rush to the nearest hospital. If it is minor, then look for the places that are critically injured by the fire. Remove all the jewelry that may be near the wounds. If clothes are stuck to the wounds then don’t peal them away. Carefully cut around the fabric and remove all the loose bits of it. Cover the burn with a clean and dry cloth to reduce the chances of infection. Do not put ice or butter on the burnt area as they can damage the tissues and slow the healing process. If the wounds are very small and manageable then apply an ointment on them, however if they are deep and you would be planning to take the kid to a doctor then don’t apply anything on the wound thereby leaving the doctor a scope for proper inspection of the caused injury. Cold Temperature Burns:
First of all, try to warm the areas that have got the cold burns. Small areas of your body such as the ears, face, nose, fingers and toes can get really cold or may be even get frozen. To treat them blow warm air on them, tuck them inside woolen clothing or put them in water that is at room temperature. Electrical Burns: After the kid is separated from the electrical source, check his/her heartbeat. Also check if they are breathing or not. Try giving CPR and call for professional help meanwhile. Tar or Hot Plastic Burns: If any kid gets burnt due to molten tar or plastic then immediately run cold water over it so as to cool the hot tar or plastic. There are possibilities that it may get stuck to the skin. So, try not pulling it out. Use oil or other lotions to see if the cooled tar or plastic peels off on its own, if it doesn’t then immediately make a trip to doctor. These three are the most common injuries that occur to many children in schools. You being a school owner or any person of authority in a school must know the above mentioned techniques, so as to take quick actions while others might stay perplexed due to shock or panic. Apart from giving the basic medical help, you may also be required to do your legal duties such as informing the local authorities, calling up the injured student’s parents, making an entry in the school accident books, fixing the flaws in school architecture or furniture or infrastructure that may have caused the injury and taking care of the studies that the injured may miss out for few days while they recover. Take care of all these issues and you shall be fully equipped to deal with any emergency in the school.
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