PDA

View Full Version : Learning from mistakes and covering my back



lorettacritchet
13-02-2013, 09:59 AM
Hi, after some recent events which seem to have made me question everything, I need some advice:

With regards to accidents/incidents:

A) how far do you all go with this? Looking at things in a sensible way, you can't logically log every fall in a book for every child i.e. a child tripped up on her own shoes, no obstruction causing accident no injury, child got back up and was fine, not upset.... - NOW my point is this type of accident could incidentally cause a bruise. Any paranoid or revenge driven parent could blame that bruise on you or your child. How can you prove that child may have got that bruise from that accident? I understand we have to log for bangs on the head, other falls that the child has actually gained some sort of a bang/knock or serious injury. It's the "minor" ones that is keeping me thinking.

B) When you write up records, obviously we can't mention the actual child's name so do you use initials of the actual child involved or just "Child A"......surely "Child A" could be anyone if you have four children in your care and your daughter? How do I prove it isn't my daughter?

C) When a child has gently pushed another child but no injury/falls, you have only put them on the naughty step - do you only mark it in the daily diaries? or just keep a record of it? (For those of you who know my issue - no my daughter wasn't involved!!! )

D) If someone mentions their child has a bruise and you don't see it - do you still log it?

As the title says, I am trying to cover my back and learn from my mistakes.

Many thanks

JCrakers
13-02-2013, 10:23 AM
Truthfully we should be logging everything that moves. But realistically I don't. :blush:
I probably should but I don't log every trip, fall, grazed knee. If a mindee has fallen and cut a knee then I just mention it to parents.

I log head injuries or incidents that are more than a general fall. I logged one Monday where a mindee had banged her head/ear on my cupboard and it had made a little bruise on the top of her ear.

Iv'e never had an incident between two or more children in 5.5yrs but would log as anonymous and may keep a record for myself with names.

The only incidents I have had and recorded were a broken arm (8yr old) which I had to record and report to Ofsted and a couple of football incidents with balls in stomach or head to which Ive written up an incident form, informed parents and they have signed.

As for bruises I would log if it was an unusual bruise. ie if it was a scraped knee with a bruise I wouldn't but if it was a bruise on an arm,head or torso etc I would log it if the parent told me. If I found a bruise I would log an existing injury form for parents to sign to basically cover myself.

I do use a time out area and just make a note in the diary that their child has, in a nice way, been a bit challenging today but I don't log it. Kids misbehave and all parents know my discipline methods so I feel I dont need to write something down everytime I intervene. :D

But like I said I should probably log everything so hopefully you could get conflicting advise off others :D

lubeam
13-02-2013, 10:24 AM
No advice sorry but bless ya! I hope that horrible women gets a taste if her own Medicine some where along the line chin up :)

littlecheeks
13-02-2013, 11:52 AM
Hi, after some recent events which seem to have made me question everything, I need some advice:

With regards to accidents/incidents:

A) how far do you all go with this? Looking at things in a sensible way, you can't logically log every fall in a book for every child i.e. a child tripped up on her own shoes, no obstruction causing accident no injury, child got back up and was fine, not upset.... - NOW my point is this type of accident could incidentally cause a bruise. Any paranoid or revenge driven parent could blame that bruise on you or your child. How can you prove that child may have got that bruise from that accident? I understand we have to log for bangs on the head, other falls that the child has actually gained some sort of a bang/knock or serious injury. It's the "minor" ones that is keeping me thinking.

B) When you write up records, obviously we can't mention the actual child's name so do you use initials of the actual child involved or just "Child A"......surely "Child A" could be anyone if you have four children in your care and your daughter? How do I prove it isn't my daughter?

C) When a child has gently pushed another child but no injury/falls, you have only put them on the naughty step - do you only mark it in the daily diaries? or just keep a record of it? (For those of you who know my issue - no my daughter wasn't involved!!! )

D) If someone mentions their child has a bruise and you don't see it - do you still log it?

As the title says, I am trying to cover my back and learn from my mistakes.

Many thanks

well for

A-I write an accident form for any head injuries, any injury that’s causes damage i.e. cut, graze etc, or any bad accident that I think will cause a bruise. I would also do one for things like something in their eye etc. I don’t log EVERY minor accident but I will often just mention it in their daily dairy.

B-I have not had to do this yet but I would just put 'another child'. Maybe you could keep your own confidential notes of an incident if you’re worried? As far as I know we just can’t share this with other parents, nothing stopping you keeping your own notes-but as you possibly needed to use this information should a problem arises I’m not sure.

C-I don’t use a naughty step as I just don’t personally agree with it, I would just firmly tell the child it is not acceptable behaviour. You could mention in the daily diary a child pushed that child, but personally I don’t. If it was a minor push-i.e. no injury, then no I won’t mention it unless I think there is a continuing problem. I would just deal with the incident there and then.

D-If a parent came to me saying their child had a bruise, then YES I would log it down. What was said, when, by who, who you was minding at the time etc etc. If they don’t want to make a complaint then just keep this for your own records.

hope that helps, try not to stress yourself out.

bunyip
13-02-2013, 01:14 PM
well for

A-I write an accident form for any head injuries, any injury that’s causes damage i.e. cut, graze etc, or any bad accident that I think will cause a bruise. I would also do one for things like something in their eye etc. I don’t log EVERY minor accident but I will often just mention it in their daily dairy.

B-I have not had to do this yet but I would just put 'another child'. Maybe you could keep your own confidential notes of an incident if you’re worried? As far as I know we just can’t share this with other parents, nothing stopping you keeping your own notes-but as you possibly needed to use this information should a problem arises I’m not sure.

C-I don’t use a naughty step as I just don’t personally agree with it, I would just firmly tell the child it is not acceptable behaviour. You could mention in the daily diary a child pushed that child, but personally I don’t. If it was a minor push-i.e. no injury, then no I won’t mention it unless I think there is a continuing problem. I would just deal with the incident there and then.

D-If a parent came to me saying their child had a bruise, then YES I would log it down. What was said, when, by who, who you was minding at the time etc etc. If they don’t want to make a complaint then just keep this for your own records.

hope that helps, try not to stress yourself out.

This is very similar to what I do.

For 'A', I record anything that leaves a mark, seems likely to develop into a mark (bruises can take time to appear, so I'd point such out to a parent and encourage them to report back), and any head injury.

I'd also record (as an incident, not as an injury) anything that's what I call a "near miss". This is typically something avoidable, that could have caused an injury, but didn't. eg. If a child found a broken bottle/needles in the park, or picked up dog poo.

Of course, we can't record every single uneventful slip or trip. But neither should we be afraid to record things. I think a lot of CMs I meet are afraid that a full accident book looks bad, but it can actually mean we're on top of things and seeking to always improve. The record for getting into my accident book is a child I'd been looking after for 25 minutes who fell after I told her not to run down an alleyway! I find parents are very appreciative that I inform them of all accidents, etc. and am very up-front about their rights to complain or talk about concerns (eg. displaying Ofsted's number in daily diaries, poster, etc.) I actually think it makes a complaint less likely, as well as meaning I could easily demonstrate due diligence if there ever was a complaint.

It's almost impossible to prove a 'negative' - that is, prove something didn't happen. But you can prove that it's normal for you to have recorded things that do happen, and encourage parents to report concerns immediately, and thereby show that anything not recorded is far more likely to be a parent's attempt at fiction. :thumbsup: This really does work. I have many years' experience on the railways where passengers would regularly try to sue over non-existent accidents. Because very thorough accident/incident logs are taken, the railway could demonstrate due diligence and avoid spurious claims for damages.

I have a head injury information leaflet, because seemingly innocuous head bumps can have serious delayed consequences up to 48 hours later.
6926

[edited for fat-fingered typos.]

Porridge
14-02-2013, 10:04 PM
Sorry I'm not much help, but this reminded me of an incident many years ago when I handed a young child back to his Mum at the end of our 6 hour day, and a few minutes later she came back to ask how the child had received the head injury; a massive graze underneath his quite long/thick fringe!!!
I was shocked and stunned as I had spent the whole day in very close proximity, playing with the child and my own lo, and I can totally confirm that child had not even had a minor bump, and child was well and happy, and had not even cried at all during the whole time I had him. I explained this to Mum, and it also seemed to me that the graze was not fresh (it seemed to have scabbed at the edges), although this was obviously just my opinion, and I had no evidence to back it up. Result was that I felt VERY VERY bad, as I felt that either mum felt I was not supervising child properly (in order for such injury to occur in my care without my knowledge!), or I was trying to cover something up. I went through much internal anguish about whether I should be checking each child over thoroughly for injuries before sessions and getting mum to sign!!!
Actually Mum was quite cool about the whole thing but it left me with a horrible 'what if' feeling. How on earth can we protect ourselves?!!! Obviously if there are injuries you spot before hand over you can discuss them, but when the injuries are covered it's a little more difficult...

Tazmin68
15-02-2013, 09:55 AM
I record everything. I get annoyed when older children have a bump or something and do not tell me as I like to record everything. Many years ago I had a parent try to get out of a payment dispute by saying that my then 4 month old son had scratched their 2 year old. Hilarious. Child just stopped turning up never gave notice and when I got ncma legal team involved found that their business had folded so never got money. Was threatened with ofsted and I pointed out that ofsted once advised that fees were outstanding would recognise it as being malitous due to money .

dette
15-02-2013, 10:06 AM
Sorry I'm not much help, but this reminded me of an incident many years ago when I handed a young child back to his Mum at the end of our 6 hour day, and a few minutes later she came back to ask how the child had received the head injury; a massive graze underneath his quite long/thick fringe!!!
I was shocked and stunned as I had spent the whole day in very close proximity, playing with the child and my own lo, and I can totally confirm that child had not even had a minor bump, and child was well and happy, and had not even cried at all during the whole time I had him. I explained this to Mum, and it also seemed to me that the graze was not fresh (it seemed to have scabbed at the edges), although this was obviously just my opinion, and I had no evidence to back it up. Result was that I felt VERY VERY bad, as I felt that either mum felt I was not supervising child properly (in order for such injury to occur in my care without my knowledge!), or I was trying to cover something up. I went through much internal anguish about whether I should be checking each child over thoroughly for injuries before sessions and getting mum to sign!!!
Actually Mum was quite cool about the whole thing but it left me with a horrible 'what if' feeling. How on earth can we protect ourselves?!!! Obviously if there are injuries you spot before hand over you can discuss them, but when the injuries are covered it's a little more difficult...

i had a similar incident.my son and 2 mindees ,all about 3ys old were playing with a pile of balls(ball pool style) when my son threw a block at one LO.I heard it connect with something but LO didnt cry or even look up .My son was told off and told not to throw anything that wasnt a ball.
Next day parent asked how LO had a massive bump on her forehead !!! it was about an inch wide.theyde noticed it while bathing her.as like yours she had a fringe.I felt terrible ,i told them about the incident and the fact that she hadnt cried so i hadnt looked for an injury,parents were fine about it luckily ..

wellybelly
15-02-2013, 02:09 PM
I log everything - the other day a child fell over three times on the school run and I recorded each one on an individual form. I would rather be over the top with accidents / incidents than not. Yes its more paperwork but I don't want to be accused of anything ever.