Yesterday at work I attended a one-hour Epi-Pen Training in-service that I found very informational. I had never been Epi-Pen trained before but since two of the children in my current class need Epi-Pens (one for bee stings, the other for a cashew allergy) it was a good idea that I get trained, should the need ever arise for me to actually use their Epi-Pen on either one of them. Here's all the information I picked up:
- Children may not know how to accurately describe what an allergic reaction feels like so you need to pay close attention to the kinds of things they are saying to you. Generally if they're experiencing an allergic reaction they will either start playing with their tongue (because it feels funny) or talk about how their mouth/tongue feels. Examples of this are: "My tongue is tingling", "My mouth feels funny" ,"There's something stuck in my throat", "My lips feel tight", etc.
- There are three ways to administer epinephrine [Epi-Pen, Twinject, and Adrenaclick] and there are two different dosages of Epi-Pen [the junior dose is .15mg and the senior dose is .3mg]. The children at my center use the Epi-Pen.
- Epi-Pens must be stored at room temperature, out of the reach of children.
- You cannot use an Epi-Pen on a child without the proper medical forms that have been filled out by the child's physician. You need to make sure that the medical form, doctor's plan of care for the child and your center's plan of care for the child are all stored with the Epi-Pen in a Ziploc bags with a pair of gloves.
- Upon receiving the Epi-Pen you must check the expiration date and note when the medication expires... you cannot give a child an expired Epi-Pen.
- To use, just remove the cap of the Epi-Pen (on the junior dosage it's the blue end) and then stab the child in the outer thigh with the other end (orange, on the Epi-Pen Jr.). You must hold the Epi-Pen in the child's thigh for ten seconds before taking it out. The child will most likely be bleeding through their pants where they were injected so you must wear gloves. You can massage the area you injected the Epi-Pen into to get the medicine to work faster.
- After using the Epi-Pen, you may be required to give the child a dose of Benadryl (which should also be in the Ziploc bag with the Epi-Pen if that is required in their plan of care by their doctor). The Epi-Pen helps open the airways during an allergic reaction but does nothing else; the Benadryl helps with any swelling or rashes that develop associated with the allergic reaction.
- You must save the Epi-Pen (put it back in its container after use) and give it to the ambulance driver when they arrive to bring the child to the hospital. You must call 911 after administering the Epi-Pen because the dose you give the child will only last for about 20 minutes and they'll need more medical attention after that.
- It is important to know every child in the center that requires an Epi-Pen and to know where each Epi-Pen is stored; it is a good idea to have a monthly Epi-Pen drill to keep the information on how to use the Epi-Pen fresh in everyone's mind so that if the time ever comes when it is necessary to use it, you will know how to do so without panicking. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU REMAIN CALM.
There's other information about the Epi-Pen that we learned but that was the basic, most important, stuff that I took from the in-service. We also learned about the two other forms of epinephrine that can be administered (Twinject and Adrenaclick) but we didn't really go into detail on either one of those because no one at our center uses either. It was a very informative meeting and I feel that if I ever had to use the Epi-Pen on either of the children in my care who require them, I could do so without hesitation. I hope it never comes to that, of course, but it's always best to be prepared.
