First aid for schools

Student injuries occur during recess, team sports and field trips and first aid must be provided to prevent minor injuries from becoming major ones. Schools may have medical specialists to treat the most serious injuries, but all school employees should be able to provide routine first aid if they encounter an injured student.

The first responder to an incident should survey the scene to prevent additional accidents, call for help if needed and then administer care to the victim.

Among the injuries school personnel may be required to treat are:

* Head, neck and back injuries – immobilize the victim to assess the damage
* Choking – perform the Heimlich maneuver, if capable
* Broken bones – keep the victim still and relaxed, holding the injury in the most comfortable position
* Cuts – put on disposable gloves to avoid infected blood and place a thick, sterile gauze pad on the wound
* Human bites – wash the wound with soap and warm water, apply a mild antiseptic and cold compress
* Chemical burns – flush affected area with cool water for 15 minutes
* Eye injuries – apply sterile gauze to the cut, but never apply direct pressure to stop bleeding near the eye
* Bee sting – scrape out the stinger with a stiff piece of material
* Nose bleeds – have the student hold a tissue under each nostril to catch blood and place a cold compress on the bridge of the nose to reduce swelling
* Dental injuries – if the student has lost a tooth, fold clean gauze over the bleeding area, rinse the tooth in cold water and save it in a cup
* Muscle and joint injuries – wrap an elastic bandage around the injury and apply a cold pack

Seat belts on school buses?

Should school buses have seat belts? Currently, New York and New Jersey require them, but other states don’t, with many believing school buses are better without them. The high seat backs on buses prevent children from being thrown great distances in accidents and impact absorbing materials soften the blow. “School buses are heavier, experience less crash factors and distribute crash forces differently than passenger cars and light trucks,” says The National Highway Traffic Safety Association. “Because of this, the crash force experienced by passengers of large buses is much less that that experienced by occupants of passenger cars.”

The National Coalition for Seatbelts on School Buses supports the installation of seat belts on school buses to reduce the probability of death and serious injury during crashes and rollovers. It also believes seat belt use improves passenger behavior and reduces driver distractions.

In a recent accident, 18 North Carolina preschoolers were saved by the safety seats they were wearing that were required by Head Start. When their bus rolled over, they children stayed securely in their seats and avoided harm. “The restraint worked, it kept them from pinballing around inside the bus and hitting something,” an ambulance service spokesman said.

This accident took place in a smaller school bus, less than 10,000 pounds, where seat belts are required. Similar safety restraints could reduce injuries in full size buses, too.