Tools For Promoting Good Health for Children Chapter 2

Caregivers Can’t Diagnose As caregivers we cannot diagnose a physical, mental or emotional health problem or learning disorder. We can describe symptoms and refer families to appropriate professionals for diagnosis and treatment.

Health Policies The strategies we use to manage health risk. Important strategies include: Observation and documentation Evaluation: Daily quick check General and mental health appraisal Screening for growth and development Nutritional assessment

Observation & Documentation Observations can be general, ie. for health status (physical and emotional) specific ie. symptoms Observation tools: Be objective, not subjective Don’t over-generalize See chart p. 56 Documentation includes: checklists (p 58), normative charts (p 439), symptom record (p 433), incident report (p 435)

Daily Morning Quick Check Symptoms that are listed in your exclusion policy that are observed during quick check are grounds for sending the child home right away See list, p. 58-59. I would add acts feverish

General Health Appraisal More in-depth and long term observation than Quick Check Appraisal is the regular process of evaluating health or developmental norms. May be triggered when warning signs of possible illness are observed over time. Ex frequent sneezing may indicate an allergy to something in the environment Best if conducted with co-operation of parent May lead to referral to a health practitioner

Screening For Growth and Developmental Norms Done periodically (quarterly) Be aware of cultural/racial differences in norms ex. Asian children tend to be shorter and less heavy than African-Americans Height and weight (p 439-42) Vision and hearing (p 68) Motor development (p 62-3) Speech and language (p 69) Nutrition (p 76)

Suspecting Problems If a caregiver suspects a health problem, a screening may not provide enough information to make a determination If a problem is suspected the child should be referred to a health professional for in-depth assessment

Implications for Caregivers Be culturally sensitive: approach parents about concerns within a cultural context that is meaningful to them. Ex. Hmong beliefs about illness Provide supervision: As staff size grows, supervision needs increase as we insure the health of the students in our care