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View Full Version : Incident in the playground this morning



lissy
17-11-2009, 10:10 AM
This morning on my school run i had my two dds one of which is sick so isnt going to school, a 9 mth asleep in pushchair and a 4 year old boy.

The 4 year old was playing with his friends when all of a sudden i heard him crying and then saw him, his face covered in blood! I rushed him into his classroom yelling at my dd 7 to push the baby in for me.

The teacher must have seen him coming as she had the relevant first aid equipment out. We sat him down and mopped off the blood to see where it was coming from which was his nose but the blood was everywhere, his coat, trousers, hands, face, the floor, shoes!!!

The teacher had on plastic gloves and held the tissues to his nose to stop the bleeding, i sat with him to calm him down and then started cleaning him up with some wet hand towels.

Once blood had stopped the teacher asked me to sit with him for a while to check he was ok before sending him into class. He looked quite pale so we sat and read a couple of stories until he looked a bit better and then he wanted to go in.

My questions are:
did i do the right thing just cleaning the blood up off him, should i have had gloves on me to do this?

normally i have to get back to my house for 9.05 to meet other parents but luckily today i havnt got anyone else so it didnt matter, but what shoudl i have done if i had??

Should i inform parent? (shes a teacher at his school but is out on training today) do i do an accident form or shoudl the school do one?

how would you have handled this situation?

Its made me think if i shoudl have more stuff on me all the time, such as first aid etc.

Look forward to hearing your views

Ripeberry
17-11-2009, 10:48 AM
Oh what a morning :( . Hope he is Ok now, head wounds always look bad. If the playground was on school grounds then I think the school should write the report, but just to cover yourself, note it as an incident in your book as well.
Unless the teacher offered you some gloves, I think it was only natural of you to want to help with mopping up.
As long as you had no open wounds or sores on your hands. I always carry a small first aid kit in the nappy changing bag so that I've always got plasters to hand.
But you've just reminded me to put some gloves in it :thumbsup:

nokidshere
17-11-2009, 10:48 AM
My questions are:
did i do the right thing just cleaning the blood up off him, should i have had gloves on me to do this? You didn't have gloves, you didn't know where the blood was coming from - you did the right thing!

normally i have to get back to my house for 9.05 to meet other parents but luckily today i havnt got anyone else so it didnt matter, but what shoudl i have done if i had?? Nothing you can do except text them maybe - would they not phone your mobile if you weren't there?

Should i inform parent? (shes a teacher at his school but is out on training today) do i do an accident form or shoudl the school do one? Yes I would inform parent and I would do the accident form if he were in my care at the time
how would you have handled this situation? Exactly as you did

Its made me think if i shoudl have more stuff on me all the time, such as first aid etc. Even if you had first aid stuff in your car or under the buggy, your first instict is never going to be "get the first aid" it will always be about getting to the child and stopping the bleeding

Look forward to hearing your views

lissy
17-11-2009, 10:55 AM
thank you for your replies :)

Tinglesnark
17-11-2009, 10:59 AM
My questions are:
did i do the right thing just cleaning the blood up off him, should i have had gloves on me to do this? You didn't have gloves, you didn't know where the blood was coming from - you did the right thing!

normally i have to get back to my house for 9.05 to meet other parents but luckily today i havnt got anyone else so it didnt matter, but what shoudl i have done if i had?? Nothing you can do except text them maybe - would they not phone your mobile if you weren't there?

Should i inform parent? (shes a teacher at his school but is out on training today) do i do an accident form or shoudl the school do one? Yes I would inform parent and I would do the accident form if he were in my care at the time
how would you have handled this situation? Exactly as you did

Its made me think if i shoudl have more stuff on me all the time, such as first aid etc. Even if you had first aid stuff in your car or under the buggy, your first instict is never going to be "get the first aid" it will always be about getting to the child and stopping the bleeding

Look forward to hearing your views

i agree, you did everything exactly how i would have done it too...dont stress over it, report it in your incident/accident book and make sure that the parent is informed...what more can you do? x

Blaze
17-11-2009, 11:43 AM
As above really - except I do carry gloves & I do use them....I didn't use to - I used to be as above....until I cared for a LO who was adopted. He was under a year when I started caring for him. You wouldn't have known he was adopted he actually really looked like his "Dad" - but the parents were up front as they had concerns that his "birth dad" would try & steal him as it was a forced adoption...anyway the birth mother was a drug addict & the LO was HIV positive from birth - legally they didn't HAVE to tell me this - but felt they should. I was very pleased they did - but it taught me a lesson - you NEVER EVER KNOW - SO BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY!

Pudding Girl
17-11-2009, 11:45 AM
I'd have acted as you did but I would have put gloves on, I don't carry them as a rule (well theya re in changing bag but maybe if not got a baby with me I wouldn't take changing bag out!) so I would have used the schools ones.

What exactly did he do anyway? the nose?

lissy
17-11-2009, 12:19 PM
I didnt see what happened but another mum said that he had been playing with her son and they had bumped heads??? Not entirely sure how it would have happened but it looked like he had a slight bruise coming up on the bridge of his nose when i left him???

little miss chatterbox
17-11-2009, 12:27 PM
I think you did extremely well in the circumstances. Yes you probably should have used gloves (we all know that) however, many a time when I have patched up a child, I have reflected on the situation afterwards and realised I did not stop to put gloves on!

Let's be honest, if a child in our care is pouring with blood the natural reaction is to get them cleaned up and find out where the blood is coming from. not to stop and think "oh hang on I can't do anything yet until I have gloves on"!

So I wouldn't worry about the gloves too much it's done now. I'm guessing the teacher knew you were a childminder? personally if she put gloves on I think she should have offered you some!!!!!

I always try and carry a first aid kit because I have had an incident on the way to school but I generally forget because I'm usually running late!

I think you can congratulate yourself on a job well done, you stayed calm and you settled the child! I would write an incident report yourself. I think the sch should but as he was still in your care I would do one too!

Blackhorse
17-11-2009, 01:47 PM
I agree with all the above...and I am shocked about Blaze's post..I thought they had to inform you of things like that!! I think people caring for a child should have the right to know to make sure nothing is being passed on to other kids and adults..I know you should always make sure you avoid cross contamination but obviously you would be 100% more vigilant if you knew the LO carried an illness??

You have done well.
I would do an incident report as he was still in your care even if the school writes up one too.
As for the gloves...I am going to start taking some with me in the future now I think...dont always have my first aid kit with me which I guess I really should....so thanks for your post....!!

Gizmo
17-11-2009, 02:07 PM
I too would do an incident report. I always have gloves in my bag as we have to use them in Scotland to change nappies, but tbh I prob would have just got stuck in to clean him up and thought about it later, also well done for staying calm :thumbsup:

buildingblocks
17-11-2009, 04:34 PM
The 4 year old was playing with his friends when all of a sudden i heard him crying and then saw him, his face covered in blood! I rushed him into his classroom yelling at my dd 7 to push the baby in for me.

The teacher must have seen him coming as she had the relevant first aid equipment out. We sat him down and mopped off the blood to see where it was coming from which was his nose but the blood was everywhere, his coat, trousers, hands, face, the floor, shoes!!!

The teacher had on plastic gloves and held the tissues to his nose to stop the bleeding, i sat with him to calm him down and then started cleaning him up with some wet hand towels.

Once blood had stopped the teacher asked me to sit with him for a while to check he was ok before sending him into class. He looked quite pale so we sat and read a couple of stories until he looked a bit better and then he wanted to go in.

My questions are:
did i do the right thing just cleaning the blood up off him, should i have had gloves on me to do this?

normally i have to get back to my house for 9.05 to meet other parents but luckily today i havnt got anyone else so it didnt matter, but what shoudl i have done if i had??

Should i inform parent? (shes a teacher at his school but is out on training today) do i do an accident form or shoudl the school do one?

how would you have handled this situation?

Its made me think if i shoudl have more stuff on me all the time, such as first aid etc.

Look forward to hearing your views

Slightly different to you I know I had an accident at school the other morning 7 yr old fell over the pushchair wheel and landed flat on the floor. I wrote an accident form as soon as I got home. I keep a small diary in with my first aid kit to make a note of time and anything important (diary is out of date about 2006 but I just make a note with today's date if that makes sense) as I have the worlds worst memory.

I have a small first aid kit that lives in the bottom of the pushchair as I always have the pushchair with me. I keep a pair of gloves in there. But depending on what was happening I would probably forget to put them on. My initial reaction to lots of blood would be to try not to pas out (hate the sight of blood) and stem the flow with what was to hand usually tissues as they would be handier then the first aid kit. So possibly not the best person to ask what the correct thing to do is.

JMO but even if the school wrote an accident report the accident happened with you so I would write a report to cover myself.

helenlc
17-11-2009, 04:38 PM
I have gloves in the little first aid kit that is kept in my changing bag. But I dont always take the bag with me, ie if we are doing school run and coming straight home, I dont take it.

Even if I did have it on me, my initial reaction would be like yours ie stem the flow of blood with whatever is to hand. If somebody offered me gloves, I would put them on.

But I can honestly say, they wouldnt be the first thing I reached for.

I would still write an accident form for your records too.

Hope LO is ok and feeling better now.

buildingblocks
17-11-2009, 04:44 PM
I agree with all the above...and I am shocked about Blaze's post..I thought they had to inform you of things like that!! I think people caring for a child should have the right to know to make sure nothing is being passed on to other kids and adults..I know you should always make sure you avoid cross contamination but obviously you would be 100% more vigilant if you knew the LO carried an illness??
.!!

Blaze is quite correct parents/carers/guardians are under no legal obligation to tell us off this. I can also understand your point about us needing to know.


The reasoning behind us not legally needing to know I am not sure of but it was put to us on a training like this.

All children should be treated equally (don't start throwing tomatoes at me as I can guess what you are thinking). You don't wear gloves for nappy changing/first aid normally. then you take on a child where you suddenly start wearing them for whatever reason.

You have two choices.
One - you start to wear them for one child but not others - someone will pick up on this and want to know why. You can't say for confidentiality reasons so parent guesses something to do with new child.
Two - you start to wear them for all the children and children you have in react badly (I had one who went hysterical when I changed his nappy wearing gloves as he wasn't used to them) you have to find an explanation why you are using them.

Sorry I haven't explained that very well it was done much better on our training.

buildingblocks
17-11-2009, 04:47 PM
I have gloves in the little first aid kit that is kept in my changing bag. But I dont always take the bag with me, ie if we are doing school run and coming straight home, I dont take it.

Even if I did have it on me, my initial reaction would be like yours ie stem the flow of blood with whatever is to hand. If somebody offered me gloves, I would put them on.

But I can honestly say, they wouldnt be the first thing I reached for.

I would still write an accident form for your records too.

Hope LO is ok and feeling better now.

I have three first aid kits one in the house, one in the car and one in the pushchair so always have access to one so always have access to one. But if we were in a play centre or children's centre, etc they should all have a kit anyway and should be included in the risk assessment you do for somewhere and yes I do ask them if they have one and where it is kept when I first go anywhere new (sad I know)

Blackhorse
17-11-2009, 04:56 PM
Blaze is quite correct parents/carers/guardians are under no legal obligation to tell us off this. I can also understand your point about us needing to know.


The reasoning behind us not legally needing to know I am not sure of but it was put to us on a training like this.

All children should be treated equally (don't start throwing tomatoes at me as I can guess what you are thinking). You don't wear gloves for nappy changing/first aid normally. then you take on a child where you suddenly start wearing them for whatever reason.

You have two choices.
One - you start to wear them for one child but not others - someone will pick up on this and want to know why. You can't say for confidentiality reasons so parent guesses something to do with new child.
Two - you start to wear them for all the children and children you have in react badly (I had one who went hysterical when I changed his nappy wearing gloves as he wasn't used to them) you have to find an explanation why you are using them.

Sorry I haven't explained that very well it was done much better on our training.

I think I see what you are saying...
I wear gloves for nappy changing anyways..dont have any nappies with me on the school run either though as it is only for a couple of minutes and mindees always take their poo home to parents and get a fresh nappy before going out...
anyways, I would still want to know if there is a medical issue with a child to be able to care for her/him properly and also if an accident happens you need to let medical staff know as there could be issues...so I really think I would need to know

Blaze
17-11-2009, 06:31 PM
I just wanted to add that I never treated the LO I mentioned in my earlier post any different - it just bought home to me that I really needed to enforce ALL of my practices - I knew i should always wear gloves when dealing with bodily fluids - but in reality didn't (as most of us don't) - it just bought home that the procudures are there for a reason - so I made sure that I used then for ALL children & all situations...cause you really never know.

PS - It's for the children's safety too - we carry lots of germs on our hands & we can pass them onto a LO when dealing with a wound & also there are thousands of hiv positive people who are unaware - maybe there partner cheated etc - it works both ways - we could unknowingly infect a LO - not likely - but still possible.

PPS I never meant to imply that the OP didn't do well - I just wanted to pass on the benefit of my experience.:)