Adult First Aid training, do you need it?
There is an easy answer provided by OFSTED - If the child being looked after is pre-adolescent, paediatric first aid is appropriate. If the child is older, then an adult certificate is needed. I would interpret this as saying for a nursery, pre-school and first schools just a paediatric certificate is required. Remembering of course, you MUST make a provision for your staff! For Primary and Secondary Schools, the adult "First Aid at Work" is the appropriate standard.
It would seem logical to me that first aiders in all schools who have younger children should have both paediatric and adult first aid qualifications!
Why the big difference?
The HSE make numerous requirments about the course content for First Aid at Work (FAW) which are described eslewhere. The Early Years Foundation Stage guidelines lay down what should be taught on a paediatric first aid course. The syllabii are largely similar, with differences identified, such as the different resuscitation techniques.
The main differences between adult first aid and paediatric first aid are:-
Rescusitation - Adult CPR, 30 chest compressions to every two ventillations
Paediatric CPR, 5 ventillations, then, 30 chest compressions to every 2 ventillations.
Choking - everyone over 1 year old, 5 back slaps, then 5 abdominal thrusts
Under one year old - 5 back slaps, then 5 chest thrusts
Asthma - everyone over 5 years old, 4 x 100mcg salbutamol via spacer device, followed by three doses of 2 x 100mcg salbutamol.
Under 5 years old - 2 x 100mcg salbutamol via a spacer device, followed by four further 2 x 100mcg doses
Medications - the paediatric first aider is required to be able to administer a child's medicines, including epipens.
The HSE state that the giving of medications is outside the remit of the FAW course, if this is to be taught then a specific provision must be made to allow for the extra time necessary!
The Government has made provision to deregulate paediatric first aid after the 1st September, 2014. The Local Authority will no longer have any involvement in the first aid provision - its up to YOU!
"The changes now mean that the childminder training will not have to be approved
by the local authority (LA) as was previously the case. This will enable LAs to
focus their resources on early years and childcare providers who need to improve
the quality of their provision, in line with the wider changes we are making to the
role of the LA in the early years. It will also enable the market to be opened up;
improving access to training from a range of providers to offer bespoke courses.
With regard to paediatric first aid training, we have put in place additional
safeguards on what the training should cover. Providers will be able to choose
which organisation they wish to provide the training (preferably one with a
nationally approved and accredited first aid qualification or one that is a member
of a trade body with an approval scheme) but the training must cover the course
content as for St John Ambulance of Red Cross paediatric first aid training and be
renewed every three years. The 2014 EYFS now requires that “at least one person
who has a current paediatric first aid certificate must be on the premises and
available at all times when children are present, and must accompany children on
outings.”
It would seem to me that the differences between the two concepts (paediatric and adult first aid) are minimal. I get my students for three seven hour days. That's plenty of time to cover all the differences. I know we need to eat, drink etc, but there is plenty of time to cover all the nuances of the various bits, relative to age related techniques.
Is the biggest difference price? Many training companies and organisations want their staff to do a 3 day FAW course and a 2 day paediatric course. As mentioned above, the syllabii are largely the same, so why?
Charge everyone for an FAW course, then charge almost as much again for the paediatric course. NOT FAIR and NOT NECESSARY!
Axiom Training run a 3 day first aid at work course, which includes the entire of the paediatric syllabus, the giving of medications and advisory defibrillation, at NO EXTRA COST. I have shaved a bit of time off the tea and lunch breaks, and built the necessary protocols up into the full range of resuscitation techniques. The same with asthma, allergies and all the other parts!
Our courses are approved by Worcestershire County Council for Paediatric first aid, we also are approved through the First Aid Industry Body for First Aid at Work and Paediatric first aid
Our main website has all the costings and course dates etc http://www.axiomtraining.com/course-dates.php
If you can think of any other differences between the techniques, please let me know. Or indeed any other thoughts about what I have written here!
By Martin Bennett
Director Axiom Training Ltd
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