Why Should You to Keep One of Your Child's Asthma Inhalers at School?
Posted on: 30 September 2018
If your child knows how and when to use their inhaler if they have an asthma attack, then your GP may have agreed that your child is now old enough to carry their own inhaler with them.
While you may be confident that your child can treat their own asthma problems and is sensible enough to keep the inhaler safe and handy, your GP may tell you that you also need to give a spare inhaler to your school. Why?
School's Must Meet Asthma Care Standards
Schools are required to have plans and protocols in place to manage any child who has asthma. For example, schools keep and distribute a list of any child who has this condition; they also usually have some staff who have been trained in general and emergency asthma management.
While schools may keep some emergency asthma medications on site, they also generally ask parents to give them one of their child's prescribed inhalers. This ensures that your child has emergency access to their own exact prescription if they ever need it.
Kids Aren't Always Reliable
While your child now understands that they should have access to an inhaler wherever they go, this doesn't mean that you or your school can trust them to solely rely on their own inhaler.
Kids aren't always reliable. While your child may understand how important it is to keep their inhaler with them to start with, they may be less careful later especially if they haven't had an attack for a while. They may forget to take their inhaler to school; they may lose it and forget to tell you.
Plus, your child may not notice if their inhaler is running out. They may have it with them, but it won't control an attack if it is empty. If your child has a debilitating asthma attack, then a member of staff may be able to access the school's inhaler more quickly than your child's.
Tip: It's your responsibility to make sure that any inhaler you give to the school is in date. Out of date medications should be replaced immediately.
Keeping spare inhalers in places your child goes regularly or with people they spend a lot of time with make sense. To find out other times it may be useful to have a spare inhaler and to get extra, talk to your GP next time your child has an asthma check-up.
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