First Aid in Child Care

The center's first aid kit should contain everything you need for minor injuries at the center.
You may also need to give emergency aid until professional medical help can arrive. In centers with more than three classrooms, it is recommended that you have a first aid kit in each room. You must also have extra kits to accompany children going on a field trip. Your center’s Health Policies describe other supplies you must keep in your first aid kit or elsewhere in the center for treating certain injuries or illness.

For example, it may be your policy to use:
• Additional disposable gloves for changing diapers or handling soiled laundry
• A blood spill kit when cleaning up blood or other body fluids
• Digital thermometers with disposable covers
• Cold packs, ice cubes, or frozen sponges to reduce swelling and ease discomfort
• A cold compress to ease the pain of bee stings, nettle pricks, etc.
• Hand wipes
• Bottled water (for field trips)

It is a good idea for a specific staff person to be designated as responsible for ensuring that the first aid kit is stocked at all times. The center’s health consultant should review and approve all medical
response policies and first aid supplies. Each staff member must know where the first aid kit is kept. If you are going away from the center on a walk or a field trip, be sure to bring along a first aid kit. A small waist pack is a good way to carry supplies.

At all times, at least one staff member per group of children must have current first aid and age appropriate CPR training. Even with the proper training, it may not be easy to remember what to do when someone needs first aid. If first aid is required, stay calm. A fellow staff member can skim the relevant section of your first aid guide to make sure that you are responding correctly.

After treating an injury, remember to enter the necessary information in the center's Accident/Incident Log and complete an incident report for the child’s parents to sign and keep. Keep a copy of the incident report in the child’s file at the center. If an injury results in professional medical attention you must notify your licensor and provide a written copy of the incident report. A child’s parents will be understandably concerned if their child comes home with bite marks, scratches, or bruises that appear to have been inflicted by another child. They will be more concerned if no staff member talked to them about the incident or no one seemed to know where the marks came from.

When a child is involved in an injury, make sure the parents know:
a) How the injury occurred;
b) How the staff responded to the incident; and
c) What treatment was given, if any.
d) A written report covering the above information must be kept on file.
e) Parents must receive a copy of this report.

Related Training:
A Simple Approach to Knowing the WAC's: Staff Training Requirements - 2 hours