ATLANTA – Summer camp personnel need a refresher course on the recognition, treatment, and prevention of allergic reactions in children, according to an online survey of camps in almost 40 U.S. states and Canadian provinces.
There’s a lot of data about how schools handle allergies but almost nothing about summer camps. To fill the gap, the investigators sent surveys across North America to 158 camp directors, 141 camp medical personnel – mostly registered nurses – and 198 camp staffers. Most of the camps were traditional rural affairs where children stay for several weeks, but there were also suburban and city day camps.
M. Alexander Otto/Frontline Medical News
Dr. John Lee
The results weren’t good. About a third of directors and staff, and almost 20% of medical personnel, said they had no education on food allergies. Less than 40% had a good understanding of the different ways that anaphylaxis can present. Less than 80% of camp directors and medical personnel and less than 50% of staff knew the right sequence for anaphylaxis treatment – epinephrine first, followed by a 911 call, and then a call to parents. Many respondents didn’t know the correct injection site for epinephrine.
They also were confused about hand sanitizers versus soap and water. Many mistakenly thought that sanitizers were as good as washing for removing allergens. “Their knowledge about how to clean tables and clean hands of food allergens was limited,” said lead investigator Margaret T. Redmond, MD, an allergist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.
Dr. Margaret T. Redmond
It all points to the need for education. “We were surprised at the poor recognition of anaphylactic symptoms. We are trying to identify the weaknesses in camps for targeted interventions. We know from the school data that, with education, people can change,” Dr. Redmond said.
During the 2016 summer session, 51 camps agreed to report epinephrine. Most were rural, with an average of 150 campers per day staying a median of 51 days. There were 12 epinephrine shots over that time, about half for peanut reactions and the rest for bee, wasp, and fire ant stings. None of the children died.
“Families that have kids with food allergies should reach out to camps about their policies and make sure they have epinephrine available at all times and that they have food allergy action plans” that staff know about, Dr. Redmond said.
The work was funded by Mylan and kaleo, both makers of epinephrine autoinjectors. Dr. Lee and Dr. Redmond had no relevant financial disclosures.