Back To School : FREE Epi Pens

+ this post contains affiliate links +

Helpful School Nurse Tip: Allergy reactions can occur at any time to any thing. Allergy reactions can escalate with each exposure. Are you prepared to respond? Does your school have undesignated epinephrine available to use in an emergency allergy situation?

APPLY FOR FREE EPI PENS

If you've been reading this blog for a while then you already know that Mylan Pharmaceuticals & BioRidge Pharma offer 2 two packs of FREE epi pens, replenishment epi-pens, and epi-pen trainers to qualifying schools each calendar year! I've been taking advantage of this program for many, many years and saving my school districts many, many dollars too!

To say this is a wonderful and valuable service is an understatement.

This is a potentially LIFE SAVING offer they continue to provide for FREE!

As with most undesignated prescription medication offers, there is required paperwork, but it is very self explanatory and easy to complete. FYI- you will need to have your school district physician or a local physician willing to sign an order or provide a standing order.

Having epinephrine at each school could literally save the life of a student, staff member, or visitor. You can read all about their program & apply for your free doses HERE.

I'm curious if there are any school nurses reading this post who have needed to use one of the free epi-pens at some point throughout a school year? If so, please comment so the rest of us can learn from your experience.

I'm also curious if there are any school nurses reading this post who live in a state with undesignated emergency medication laws who also have a state health department who provides the physician orders for those medications? If so, please comment your state.

ALLERGY EDUCATATION & PLAN

You will also want to spend some time thinking about how you will educate your staff members and maybe even the other students in your school. The following is a list of questions that you should have answers to... these questions might even help you think of more questions that you'll need answers to.

Who needs to know how and when to use an epi-pen.
How will those people be taught signs/symptoms and medication administration techniques?
Does your school district require a medication form or action plan?
Who needs to know which students have potentially life threatening allergies?
How are students with severe allergies identified?
Do students have permission to carry their own emergency medications?
How will you gather more information from the parents? View this easy to use & editable digital Health History form HERE.
... and many more questions depending on your school/s and school district

SCHOOL STAFF HEALTH CONCERN NOTIFICATIONS

I mainly rely on email and Skyward to make sure those who "need to know", know. I always invite staff to stop by my office, call, or email with specific questions they might have too. Teacher Tips digital cards are how I notify teachers and this is my how to guide- if it works for you that is great, if not then just take the pieces that work and switch up the rest.

WHY NOTIFY SCHOOL STAFF

As nurses, we often take our knowledge for granted and might even assume that others we work with understand or have a similar knowledge base regarding certain health conditions.

However, as school nurses, we are often viewed as the medical expert within the school setting. One of the roles of a school nurse is to educate others we work with so they understand what they need to know about certain medical conditions. Does that make sense?

Teacher Tips cards provide an opportunity to educate others within the school on a specific health condition. These teacher tips give broad information on a health condition and invite school staff to ask you for specific details as needed.

HOW TO NOTIFY TEAHCERS & STAFF

Way back when, I used to print information sheets and hand deliver them to teachers or put them inside their teacher mailbox; I’m dating myself, right?! Now, I include these digital Teacher Tips digital health information cards within the body of an email message to teachers and/or add them as an IHP attachment in Skyward for a specific student.

EMAIL: Since the Teacher Tips cards offer broad information, I have the option of including more student specific details within the body of the email; information staff would need to know. I can also include a copy of the 504 Plan or ask teachers to reference the 504 Plan for even more specific information.

SKYWARD: Use Skyward to your advantage! If you have access to the Skyward Health module then consider uploading the teacher tips cards within the Health tab of Skyward Student Management. How you wonder? Follow these steps:

Open the student screen within the Health tab of the Skyward Student Management System
Select IHP
Then “Add File”
Enter a form description and then Choose the Teacher Tips file you want to attach (download as a PDF from Google prior to attaching in Skyward)
Use the Comment box to add student specific information or more detailed information you want to the teacher to be aware of.

This is an excellent communication tool and resource between you and the teachers; especially at the 6-8 or 9-12 grade levels when student schedules change mid year or without notice. Make sure you utilize the Health Condition tab in Skyward too (great information for another blog post!)

The Teachers Pay Teachers items discussed in this blog post are items I actual use- or very close variations of those items! These items are created and designed to offer consistency when working with multiple students and sometimes at multiple schools.

Please comment if there is a specific health concern or school nursing task that you want to see digital items created for! As always, thank you for your support!