Paediatric first aid training: an essential for childcare workers
If you are aiming to work within the childcare sector, paediatric first aid training is one of the first and most important steps you will take on your career path. It is crucial to know what to do in an emergency when children are in your care; it is an intrinsic part of your job.
Basic paediatric training is not enough to satisfy the Ofsted requirements for working with children, so you will need to take a more in-depth, advanced course if you want to proceed. Look out for courses which are approved by Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Ofsted, and bear in mind that you will need to spare around two days to fully complete an in-depth course.
EYFS requires paediatric first aid courses to cover the following:
- Planning for and dealing with first aid emergencies
- Resuscitation
- Dealing with shock
- Responding correctly to burns and scalds, bites and stings and bleeding
- How to identify electric shock and anaphylactic shock
- Dealing with head, back, neck and eye injuries, as well as suspected fractures
- Responding to suspected poisoning and foreign bodies in ears, nose and eyes
- How to recognise and respond to chronic medical conditions (i.e. diabetes, asthma and epilepsy)
- How to identify and respond to sudden illness such as meningitis