Emergency care

Anaphylaxis always requires an emergency response. Using an autoinjector to administer adrenaline and calling an ambulance is the emergency response for anaphylaxis.

Students diagnosed at risk of anaphylaxis must have an emergency response plan as a part of their individual health care plan.

For anaphylaxis the emergency response plan is an ASCIA Anaphylaxis Action Plan completed and signed by the child's prescribing doctor.

ASCIA Action Plans for Anaphylaxis are available from the Australasian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy Inc (ASCIA) website.

There are two plans for anaphylaxis:

1. ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis-personal for a specific student who has been prescribed an adrenaline autoinjector (three versions of the plan are available, one for each of the three different autoinjectors).
2.  ASCIA Action Plan for Anaphylaxis-general  that does not include information about a specific student that can be used as a poster (three versions of the plan are available, one for each of the three different autoinjectors).

The above ASCIA Action Plans for Anaphylaxis can be used for individuals with food and insect allergies. The plans include instructions on how to use an adrenaline autoinjector and a copy should therefore always be stored in close proximity to the autoinjector.

A third ASCIA Action Plan is available for mild to moderate allergies (ASCIA Action Plan for Allergic Reactions-personal) for use when no adrenaline autoinjector has been prescribed.

It is the role of the parent to provide the school with an ASCIA Action Plans for Anaphylaxis completed and signed by their child's prescribing doctor.

This plan should be posted in suitable locations for easy reference as agreed by the parent and where appropriate, the student. If copies are required then the original signed copy, prepared by the doctor, should be photocopied.

Adrenaline autoinjectors contain a single dose of adrenaline and are designed as a first aid device for use by people without formal medical or nursing training. Three devices are approved for sale in Australia, the EpiPen, the new-look EpiPen and the Anapen. A junior device is available in each model for small children (under 20kg).

The new-look EpiPen is a different colour from the original EpiPen (which will be gradually phased out from mid 2011 to mid 2012) but is administered in the same way. The original EpiPen has a grey safety cap and a black needle end. The new-look EpiPen has a blue safety release and orange needle end.

It is important for school staff to be aware that EpiPen devices look and operate differently to the Anapen devices.

Both the NSW Health Anaphylaxis Education Training Program and the e-training include instruction in administering the new-look EpiPen, the original EpiPen and the Anapen.

It is the role of the parent to provide the prescribed adrenaline autoinjector and to replace it when it expires or after it has been used.

A student's individual health care plan for anaphylaxis should outline a process for replacing used and expired adrenaline autoinjectors in a timely way.