First aid in schools? Does anyone know the laws regarding school employees administering first aid to children

My sons school says that they do not administer any kind of first aid in their school. The only thing they can give is a band-aid and always call the parents to come to the school to apply antibiotic cream. I am a nurse, do they really think that I can or even will be able to leave my patients at the hospital to come to the school and apply cream to a simple cut or scrape? I also work 45 minutes from the school so that means a total of 90 minutes out of work for a scrape! I also cannot leave my job without having another nurse to care for my patients, can you see the problems this causes. I think it would be so simple for someone in the school to be trained in first aid. Does anyone know the laws for Michigan public schools?

I personally don't know what the Michigan law is regarding First Aid administration in public schools. But, you could contact the Board of Education and I'm sure they could provide you with the information.

I can tell you this though: I have been a Critical Care Paramedic for 10 years and in that time, I have provided EMS for numerous public school sports teams, as well as at a major league ballpark. In both of these settings, if a patient with an injury (even something as minor as a scraped knee or elbow) wanted ME to treat them, they had to be transported by ambulance to a hospital. The only thing I was allowed to do is evaluate the wound and give them peroxide, neosporin, and a band aid - but, I could not physically touch them, unless they agreed to be transported to a hospital.

The reasoning behind this is: Liability. If someone in a school treats a child and the child turns out to have a severe injury or even an allergic reaction to a first aid cream/ointment that is applied, the child's parent could turn around and sue the pants of whomever "treated" their child.

I currently live in Texas and the school systems here have similar rules. As a medical professional, I think it is absurd. But on the other hand, knowing how rampant people are when it comes to filing lawsuits, if I were working for the school system, I would rather be protected. As a nurse, I'm sure you feel the same way.

Your child's school may have some sort of waiver that you could sign so that they could "treat" your child in case of injury, but also relieve them of any liability.

Best of luck and I hope this helps!

if thats the case then they'll have to call 911 to come and do it for you. Which is pretty sad. But the school only does that because they don't want the liability. If Parents came out and said, "Hey, it's ok to do this for my child." then maybe the school would change their policy. They just don't want to get sued.

I'm not from Michigan; however, I think it would be a problem with school policy rather than law. You may want to address the school board at their next meeting. I, personally and professionally, see no reason why they cannot administer first aid. Most public schools in this area have a school nurse. If there is a problem that is beyond their training, EMS is called. It seems to me that anyone should be able to apply cream. I would see what their policy is, and then make an attempt to change it if needed.

Paramedic in SC

You really think our schools have the time and money to train people to be medical technicians? They can't even afford the teachers they have now. They also can't afford medical malpractice insurance (which would be required.)

I your kid gets a scrape, tell him to wash it off and put a bandaid on it. Life goes on.

I am sorry to say that in most of the 50 states,the SOP's are the same as far as school medical is concerned.Just yesterday we were dispatched to the local elementary school for a 10 yr.old who had a slight syncopal episode after being on the playground after lunch.The most that the school nurse did was to provide a emisis basin for the child to vomit in.When I asked her if she took the child's temperature,she said she did not have a simple oral thermometer.I understand that our school systems have financial difficulties, but........
we have to look at the situation from a realistic standpoint.....we have a building full of potential pediatric patients who are very unpredictable.I think it is very sad that a school "nurse" cannot administer bacitracin or take a child's temp,but can administer an IV in a hospital setting.