Week 3 Assignment

Create two scenarios: one in which a child is choking and another in which a child needs CPR. In each of your scenarios, include who is involved and where it is occurring (for example, a 5-year-old in a preschool setting has stopped breathing and is apparently choking on a piece of food). Then outline the proper emergency procedures for dealing with each situation (see pages 178–179 in your text).

 Next, summarize why advance planning is often the best way to respond to or prevent an emergency situation and the kinds of training (e.g., CPR or first aid training) you believe are needed in order to prevent or positively resolve such emergencies.

 Finally, describe any other steps adults must take to ensure they are prepared to handle these kinds of crises, including such information as first aid supplies, family emergency contact information, and so on.

Scenario 1: A 4 year old is choking on some string cheese in her home, I am the nanny, and I have to do the Heimlich maneuver.
The proper way to handle the situation is to stay calm, keep the child who is choking calm during the process. Then proceed to do the HM. In this area, it is always smart to go through the actions and learn the proper way of doing this maneuver or someone could seriously get hurt. We need to be prepared by taking a course and being certified. Even though this is something you can only do with your hands, it is smart to still have the first aid kit in an area everyone knows about in case the child does stop breathing. After this incident occurs I would contact the parents and let them know what had happened.
The outlined steps would be: to make a fist with one hand and place it below the rib cage and above the waist. Then I would perform 6-10 presses on the chest to develop enough pressure to force the string cheese back up. It is important to try again and not give up after the first try.

Scenario 2: The 4 year old slipped in the bathtub and hit her head. She has stopped breathing and CPR needs to be performed. This happened at home with the nanny.
I would take the child out of the tub, call 911/fire department, and start CPR immediately. I would grab the first aid kit, which is under the sink in her bathroom. 
I could have prevented the situation by not allowing her to stand up in the tub and also putting less water in the tub. I would need to be prepared for this situation by taking a CPR/AED first aid class or course to be certified.
In this case, I would take the child out of the bathtub and place her on the floor. Then I would tilt her head up, plug her nose and give short breaths to make sure her chest was rising. The breaths should be about 1 second long and do this 6 to 8 times. Then I would compress on the child’s chest about 30 times to try and get her heart started again.
In this case, I would make sure the parents were aware of how to do CPR and to make sure they had the first aid kit and information all together so I wouldn’t have to run downstairs or upstairs for anything, leave the child alone. I would make sure it was all together so then I could calmly perform CPR, call 911 and then inform the parents also. I would make sure that I talk to the children about these things and what ways we could prevent them from happening. One way would be not putting as much water in the tub; another could be not standing up in the tub or being too silly at times. Also, always have supervision while a child is in the tub. One main thing is to keep the lines of communication with the family open. To make sure that they know what’s going on, what happened, and how it was handled.