Your Questions Answered
Dealing with medication
Q) Where should the school keep the reliever medication?
Immediate access to reliever medication is essential. A delay in administering reliever medication can cause an increase in symptoms. Once a child is old enough (usually seven years upward) they can carry the reliever with them in their pocket. Younger children's inhalers should be kept in an easily accessible place in the classroom e.g. on a spice rack, clearly labelled. The reliever and spacer device should be accessible to the child at all times during PE, break time or on school tours. Never lock inhalers away from the child.
Q) What happens if a child takes too much reliever medication?
Reliever medication is generally safe and teachers need not worry that a child may overdose on their reliever inhaler. If a child takes many doses, they may experience an increased heart rate or tremor but these effects are temporary only. Parents should always be informed when a child has used their reliever inhaler.
Q) What if a child without asthma experiments with a reliever inhaler?
This should not be harmful. If they take many doses they may experience a fast heart rate or tremor but these symptoms are temporary only. Children should be warned against taking any medication unless administered by an adult.
Q) Do inhalers go "out of date"?
Yes they do. Parents are responsible for ensuring that their child's medication is within the expiry date. Best practice would be that a named person within the school would be responsible for checking the expiry date of children's spare inhalers.
Q) What happens if a child forgets their reliever inhaler?
The Asthma Society of Ireland would like to see an emergency reliever inhaler and spacer device in every school accompanied by a clear protocol on how and when to use it. Current law is that each inhaler is prescribed for an individual patient only and cannot be used by anyone else.
Q) Should a child with asthma use another child's inhaler if they experience asthma symptoms and their reliever (or spare) is not available?
This should never happen because a child's reliever inhaler is prescribed for use by an individual child only and should not be used by anyone else. Thus the Asthma Society of Ireland is legally unable to recommend this practice. In an emergency situation when a pupil is having an asthma attack, using another child's reliever inhaler is preferable to being unable to give any medication but this should only occur in an emergency situation.
Questions about record keeping
Q) Why is an asthma register important?
It is important to identify all children in the school with asthma to ensure they keep their reliever inhaler medication with them at school. This enables all school staff to be aware of which children have asthma and may need treatment.
Q) How often should the register be updated?
All parents should be asked annually if their child has asthma (see draft letter to parents on page 18). It is the parent's responsibility to provide the school with information regarding what medication the child needs to take during the school day. Best practice would be that a member of school staff would check that all spare reliever inhalers are not out of date.
Questions about children with more severe asthma
Q) What should happen if a child with asthma is falling behind with lessons because of "missed school days"?
If a teacher is concerned about a pupil they should talk to the child's parents. Many children with asthma do miss days at school or are tired in class because of severe asthma symptoms or poorly controlled asthma. Their symptoms can often be improved by review at the GP regarding compliance with medication, appropriate dose of medication, correct inhaler technique and trigger avoidance.
Questions about making the school environment "asthma friendly"
Q) Should asthma be included in the national curriculum or school syllabus?
The Asthma Society of Ireland recommends that all pupils should be taught about asthma. This can be incorporated into several areas of the school curriculum, including health, science/biology, history, geography and PE.
Q) Do school staff need training?
The Asthma Society of Ireland feels it is important that all school staff who come into contact with children who have asthma are trained and that this training is updated regularly. For information about training contact the Asthma Society of Ireland.
The legal positions of teachers and school staff
The Asthma Society of Ireland believes children with asthma should be allowed to take their asthma medication whenever they feel the need. There is no legal or contractual duty on school staff to administer asthma medication or supervise a pupil taking it unless they have been specifically contracted to do so.
In emergency situations
In an emergency situation e.g. an unexpected acute exacerbation of asthma, school staff are expected to act as any reasonable or prudent parent would. This may include administering medication.
