Teachers need lessons in how to deliver life-saving injections
Training call over shots for allergies
A NEW study found that most Irish primary school staff have not been trained to operate life-saving adrenaline auto-injectors.
Adrenaline, available through autoinjectors such as Epipen or Jext adrenaline pen, is the first-line medication for anaphylaxis which is a sudden, severe, and potentially life-threatening reaction.
The University of Galway’s research found 80% of teachers and special needs assistants had not been trained to recognise the signs of the severe allergic reaction. And 77% were not trained to administer an adrenaline auto-injector by their school.
With the prevalence of food allergies estimated to be between 1.4% and 3.8% in school children, the researchers noted global studies show anaphylaxis occurs in a school setting in 10% to 16% of cases.
Food items are the most common trigger followed by insect stings, with nuts the most frequent cause of food allergies.
The University College Galway team assessed the ability of 61 Irish teachers and special needs assistants to deliver the shot of adrenaline correctly in a simulated test with a paediatric mannequin. Just six of the 61 staff performed all four steps in administering an adrenaline auto-injector correctly,this accounted for 9% of group.
Professor Paul O’connor, Director of the Irish Centre for Applied Patient Safety and Simulation at the University of Galway said: “I think the study is important as due to the increasing prevalence of food allergies in children, teachers are more likely than ever to be faced with the challenge of managing a pupil with anaphylaxis. However, although not a complex task, teachers largely lack the confidence and competence to use an adrenaline auto-injector to deliver a dose of adrenaline to a pupil experiencing anaphylaxis.” The study found the most frequent error among the Irish teachers and special needs assistants was not holding the device in place for 10 seconds.