Section 3: CPR and Choking Emergencies

Section 3: CPR and Choking Emergencies

Megan Swenson

Educ 1005

September 22, 2013

When a child has been burned, has ingested poison, or is choking on a piece of food, you may be the person who can save that child's life. The plans and preparation you and your colleagues have in place can make all the difference in a life-or-death situation. In fact, anyone who is licensed or trained to work with young children should have the knowledge and capabilities for providing emergency care at a moment's notice.

For this section of your course project:

·         Create two scenarios: one in which a child is choking and another in which a child needs CPR. In each of your scenarios, include who is involved and where it is occurring (for example, a 5-year-old in a preschool setting has stopped breathing and is apparently choking on a piece of food). Then outline the proper emergency procedures for dealing with each situation (see pages 179–180 in your text).

·         Next, summarize why advance planning is often the best way to respond to or prevent an emergency situation and the kinds of training (e.g., CPR or first aid training) you believe are needed in order to prevent or positively resolve such emergencies.

·         Finally, describe any other steps adults must take to ensure they are prepared to handle these kinds of crises, including such information as first aid supplies, family emergency contact information, and so on.

Note: To help determine your approach and procedures for dealing with personal emergencies, review the following Web sites for information about what is included in various training courses:

o    American Red Cross: Prepare for Emergencies with American Red Cross First Aid, CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) Courses
    http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/courses/aed.html
    (Includes descriptions of training in American Red Cross First Aid and CPR)

o    American Heart Association: CPR and Emergency Cardiovascular Care
    http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/CPRAndECC/CPR_UCM_001118_SubHomePage.jsp 
    (Includes listings for courses on CPR and emergency cardiovascular care, including Heartsaver Pediatric First Aid, which was designed specifically to meet the needs of childcare workers)

Assignment length: Approximately 2 pages

This week, you will submit the third section of your course project for your Instructor to review.

Submit this assignment by Day 7 of this week.

Scenario 1:

There are many things in which can take place in care facility for early childhood children. I was in a situation not so long ago when my infant son was choking. He had been sitting in his highchair eating and just started to choke I followed the procedures that was lined out that we learned when we were in discharge class when my oldest was in the Neonatal Intensive Care. He started to choke and I took him out of the highchair and was calm about it all. I tired him upside down with his head in my hand and gave him thrusts on the back until the object came up. I was able to get it up, but the set after this that I would have taken if I was unsuccessful would have been to have my husband call the emergency response team. If this had been someone else’s child I would have had the emergency response team called the minute that the child passed out and then the parents would have been called (Robertson, 2013).

There are many different reasons why advanced planning is so important as well as why it is the best way to avoid emergency situations. In the case that a child is choking it is important to know what you need to do to get the piece of food out of the child’s airway. Also having a planning in advance is good because then the adults know what to do and may not get in a hurry and freak out and make the wrong move of not know what to do. I would have to say that the only other step that the adults must make to be prepared to handle knows the emergency plans and what to do in each of the emergency situations. This means have meetings to ensure that the adults know what to do in each of the situations that can arise.

Scenario 2:

            A two year old child is playing and all of a sudden stops and just drops and is lethargic and starts to turn blue. You go over to the child and you stay calm and tell someone else to go call the emergency response team and you check to see if the child is breathing and if the child has a pulse. It is now that you realize that the child is not breathing and has no pulse and this is when you start cardiopulmonary resuscitation (Robertson, 2013). Then when the response team takes over you call the parents and tell them to meet or have someone meet the team at the emergency room. After everything is over you should write up a report on what exactly happened and what took place and tell how this could have been avoided if better safety precautions had been put in place (Robertson, 2013).

            I would have to say that there are many reasons why advanced planning is could have helped in this situation. I would have to say that the first is because the adults would have known what to do and how to handle the situation. Also having advance planning would have helped because the adult would have been trained and know what to do to avoid having issues with anxiety. I would have to say that the only step the adults must take to make sure that they are able to handle these situations would be making sure that they keep up to date with the plans of the Red Cross and other organizations like this so that they know what they are suppose to do and stay up with the organizations so that their knowledge is up to date and current.  

Reference

Robertson, C. (2013). Safety, Nutrition, & Health in Early Education (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.