Resident Camps & Medical Care

[dScouter15]

Question to any of you who are certified/licensed healthcare providers (EMTs, medics, nurses) who have volunteered at district or council resident camps as the "first aid person": What kind of protocols, if any, do you operate under? Does anyone have any kind of "medical control" or other formal working relationship with a doctor or hospital, which would provide some type of operating protocols? Or, do you mostly just provide basic first aid, and not really do anything that would fall under your special training?

 

Just curious - of course, basic first aid (bandaids, drinking water, ice packs, etc) cover about 95% of average summer camp medical problems, but there have been occasions when I would have liked to have been able to get a blood sugar reading, use NS flushes for eye wash/wound cleaning (which may actually be OK), and some other BLS-type stuff, which, under fall under my protocols while at work.

 

So, just wondering - does anyone have any protocols they follow, or is it basically just first aid, and wait for the ambulance/hospital to do anything beyond that.

[infoscouter]

I can't speak to your specific question, but you should know that each council has a licensed physician whose responsibility it is to oversee the medical care provided at camps, operated under the National Camp Standards.

 

The standards say:

"The council has engaged a physician licensed to practice

medicine

as a health supervisor to approve and oversee the health

care practices of this camp. Current written operating procedures

are approved annually by the licensed physician."

 

Your questions about protocols should be directed to the council camping director, who can put you in contact with the counci'ls health supervisor.

[infoscouter]

You may also be interested in the "camp Health Officer" training available here as a self study module:

http://www.scouting.org/pubs/19-141.ppt

[Eamonn]

"So, just wondering - does anyone have any protocols they follow, or is it basically just first aid, and wait for the ambulance/hospital to do anything beyond that."

Talking as a parent.

I'm much happier with the idea that the camp will do what is needed and ship my kid off to the local hospital ASAP.

When I was organizing events where there would be a lot of Scouts present, I would notify the hospital in the area (Most times unless this was a Standard that was required.)I'd just have Her Who Must Be Obeyed, who works in the ER, tell her bosses and the local EMT's. - More or less to just give them the heads up.

The hospital does have the location of the camp and how to get there on file, so does the local EMT Service and Life Flight.

While many who work in the camp first aid station are more than qualified, some are not!! At times a little bit of knowledge can be a bad thing.

For work I just had to complete the ASHI Basic First Aid and CPR courses for lay rescuers in the community and workplace. I was a little bit surprised at how very basic it was! When I asked "Why?" I was informed that it was all I needed.

Ea.

 

[Beavah]

Yah, Info's got your Info, dScouter. Every camp should have a licensed physician who can act as medical control and establish camp protocols for you to operate under.

 

What happens on a practical level is all over the board, though, dependin' on various state laws, the relationships and operatin' agreements with county EMS, individual council, physician, and insurer views on what their malpractice exposure would be, how remote the camp is, how savvy the camp and health officers are, etc.

 

So you really have to call a specific camp to get the real scoop on how they handle things.

 

Beavah

 

[fotoscout]

It should be noted that some camps do have licensed physicians signed on for the summer to act as the "Health Officer". In those camps, I would expect that the protocols would be different.