Valuable Lesson from a 5 year old

[dazthechippy]

My little girl skinned her knee badly as school on the playground tarmac, no real drama as kids do these things except the school put the fabric plaster (40mm square ish) over the graze, so when we got her home we had to pull the plaster off the graze (ouch). That was after they'd only irrigated it with a cold compress (probably pushing more muck into it)..

Anyway what it needed was an antiseptic wipe and a 100mm square melolin patch over it as it was quite big and I didnt want to get the surgical tape near the grazing..

What it taught me..

1) make sure the school or any place your kids go have adequate first aid provisions, not just silly little plasters - but proper wound dressings etc and the people are not just first aid trained - they are sensible enough to know how to REALLY use these skills (oh and make sure you learn too)

2) make sure you have adequate stocks too - i really thought that i had enough dressings and stuff for most things but had to restock from the chemist after this to make sure i could cover "bigger" emergencies which to be honest are quite likely at some point in life even if non serious. I really wasnt expecting a knee graze to need such a large dressing

I'm only first aid trained and have some military first aid training but still reckon i could have done better than the school and probably in my limited stocks here have more FAK stuff then they do (although I am a prepper)..

oh, and if anyone can reccommend a first aid item supplier (dressings and bandages, normal stuff etc) I'd be grateful - I know some of you guys are very advanced first aiders / paramedic standard.

cheers

[Yorkshire Andy]

I can remember the the teachers dipping into the communal "magic cream" aka Savlon when i was at school all that is long gone your lucky they put a plaster on the knee,

Sadly the claims culture has killed off any common sense and a teacher or other school adult daring to clean out a wound properly....

My first aid at work course didnt even cover cleaning wounds just check for foreign objects and if any are there pack the dressing off if anything is embedded.........



as for supplies of dressings try screwfix range of refills of all places

eg

http://www.screwfix.com/p/british-stand ... mall/91792

http://www.screwfix.com/p/alcohol-free- ... k100/27612



also check tescos own brand of dressings they have a fair choice


eg

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/ ... =253885371

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/tesco-pr ... ngs_5.html

[lonewolf]

I was a first aider on a building site and once when I was off site collecting materials a labourer had an encounter with a moving skip....ouch! foreman put a sticking plaster over the wound and when I came back I had to remove the plaster, nearly took the guy's scalp off with it! then replaced the sticking plaster with a larger non sticky wound dressing. he survived

[jansman]

My Wife is in education. She is a designated first aider. As has been mentioned , they are only allowed to dress wounds in a particular way. Otherwise-Doctor. Sad fact that this is how it is now.
On the plus side, Jan did have an incident a couple of months ago where a child had a serious seizure. Jan used that good old fashioned Common Sense. She took charge and saw that the child was ok and barked the order at the head teacher to get an ambulance. "Now!"
Parents were most grateful as it happens.

Back to the OP. You need to have lots of first aid kit, just in case. I have been there with my kids, and when the Eldest came off her bike we realised our FAK was lacking. We managed, but put the shortfall right the following day.

[Malthouse]

Sounds like you had the perfect wound care in mind, melolin squares are much under-used in my view.

Schools that have a policy of restricted aid in the event of medical need are putting the children in their care at risk. It is as simple as that. Any parent who finds their kid has not had an injury or medical issue dealt with according to the current first aid standards should make a formal complaint IMHO.

Current first aid standards are defined by the latest edition of the First Aid Manual, the same book is endorsed by the Red Cross, St Johns and RYA. These books are updated regularly and need to be replaced as the new editions come out.

I am happy to provide cheap taylor-made first aid training, happy to travel too.

[Decaff]

A brilliant dressing to any kit are the mepilex dressings and can be left on for a few days if required. Easy to use and remove without pulling the skin. I have used under the arm (accident with a hot waxing machine) and as they are squishy you can carry on as normal.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Schools that have a policy of restricted aid in the event of medical need are putting the children in their care at risk. It is as simple as that. Any parent who finds their kid has not had an injury or medical issue dealt with according to the current first aid standards should make a formal complaint IMHO.

Problem is in the claim culture putting a plaster on a Minor without parental consent is a bit of a Gray area..... taking the first aid training out of the picture..

as a adult to adult the ubiquitous "are you allergic to anything question" usually gets a yes XXX and XXX response but a child in distress you have no hope..........


A "does your mummy put plasters on you?" can back fire big time... Child says "Yes" you slap one on the grazed knee and the child reacts.......

(your not likely to get the full story like "yes mummy uses special hypo-allergenic plasters" )

you and i know what the first aid book says, but the child suffers an allergic reaction to the plaster and thanks to the accident claims for your type culture mummy sees £££££ to make little jonny feel better.,.....



Thats before you get onto the "risks" associated with "touching a child" Child KO'd in the playground and you do a head to foot primary& secondary survey and someone with no first aid knowledge but has seen the recent Jimmy and Rolf stuff reads way too much into it and goes on FB saying Mr Smith has been fondling a child in the playground whilst they were knocked out....

Ruins a good teachers reputation and possibly destroys his lively hood....


The teaching profession really gets a kicking.....

[Yorkshire Andy]

this is my home kit (lives in cupboard all family members know where it is..)




obviously its only the basics but it is a grab box rather than the contents of boots... kitchen cupboard has loads more bits in and drugs..


this is my "car" bag which goes everywhere with me when im in the car / take it camping et all...









burns kit kept sepperate in the bag



and in the front pocket a high vis vest and first aid handbook and my certificates

[Decaff]

Brilliant kit! I especially like the car one, did you buy it like that or did you add to it?

Sorry that sounds very nosy but it looks so complete.

[Malthouse]

Problem is in the claim culture putting a plaster on a Minor without parental consent is a bit of a Gray area..... taking the first aid training out of the picture.

But in the OP's case the better dressing was not a plaster, a melolin patch and some tape are unlikely to cause an allergic reaction. Surely limiting teachers to only using plasters is a bad idea.