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Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards for Out-of--Home Child Care Programs, 2nd Edition (CFOC, 2nd Ed.)was released by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), American Public Health Association (APHA), the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB), and the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care (NRC) in January 2002. The full edition of CFOC, 2nd Ed. contains 707 standards and recommendations on all aspects regarding the health and safety of children in child care settings. These standards were developed by leading health and safety experts over a period of four years. Each standard includes rationale behind the need for such practices. The full edition is available on the NRC web site at http://nrckids.org/CFOC/index.html. Print copies can be purchased from the American Academy of Pediatrics (www.aap.org)and the American Public Health Association (www.apha.org).
In an effort to make select subject areas more accessible to intended users, the National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care (NRC) is developing smaller documents on specific subject areas. This document is a compilation of the standards on medication administration in child care settings.
The inclusion of children with chronic illnesses and the need for medications during their time at a child care facility has continued to increase. For example, the cases of asthma in children under 5 years old increased more than 160% between 1980 and 1994 (1). It is critical for the health and safety of these children to have child care providers who are properly trained on medication administration. The standards included were developed to provide guidelines to states on "best practice" regarding medication administration. In some cases, states surpass the recommended guidelines, such as in the case of Connecticut which has more explicit training requirements and requires more frequent medication administration training. In other states, the topic is not covered in detail and we hope these standards will provide guidance to all who work with children on medication. Also users should consult their state agencies responsible for child care regulations and their State Health Professional Boards (e.g. State Board of Nursing) regarding the state rules on medication administration and specifically who may administer medications, who may train child care providers, and the qualifications of the trainer.
States are beginning to develop medication administration training through their Healthy Child Care America Campaigns. For a contact in your state and resources available in your state, please contact the Healthy Child Care America Campaign (http://www.aap.org/advocacy/hcca/state.htm)
state regulators and policy makers who are formulating or changing state regulations regarding medication administration in their state;
health consultants and trainers who can promote and teach appropriate medication administration policies to child care providers; and
parents who need to understand the importance of appropriate training and knowledge needed for their child care provider to administer medications to their child.
Throughout this document there will be references to other standards contained in the full edition of Caring for Our Children, 2nd Ed. that are not present in this document. For example, comments in Standard 8.046 regarding the contents of children's records, refer to Standard 8.053 for more information on confidentiality of records (which is not in this document but is in the full edition of Caring for Our Children, 2nd Ed.). In the web version, the user can click on the link to this standard to get to the full edition.
We would like to give thanks to Phyllis Stubbs-Wynn, MD, MPH, Angela A. Crowley, PhD, APRN, BC, PNP, and R. Lorraine Brown, RN, BS for reviewing this compilation of standards on the various aspects of medication administration. We would also like to thank all those individuals who contributed to CFOC, 2nd Ed. A listing can be viewed at: http://nrckids.org/CFOC/PDFVersion/Acknowledgments.pdf
For questions or assistance on these standards or Caring for Our Children, 2nd Edition, please contact:
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Medication Administration Copyright 2003 http://nrckids.org 1-800-598-5437 info@nrckids.org |
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