Helping your Babysitter Deal with Medical Emergencies

At last, after great trouble, you have found the perfect babysitter – one who is kind, caring, patient and loving – one you can trust your children with. However, you want to speak out about something that troubles you – accidents and medical emergencies.

You need to ensure that the babysitter can deal with such situations competently. Discuss various scenarios with her and help her understand what you want her to do – call 911, call you, call the family doctor whose phone number you have given her, or handle the problem herself and wait for your return.

Sit down and talk

The first step is to sit down and talk with the babysitter – to reassure her that you are not going to hold her responsible for emergencies; they do occur in spite of the best attention and care. Tell her that the crucial thing for her to do is not to panic, but to summon immediate assistance to resolve the issue.

The ideal thing to do is ask your family doctor for a list of potential emergencies and advice on when the babysitter should call you or the doctor or 911 without any delay. If that is not possible search online for this information, and make sure the babysitter knows pretty well what to do when a situation arises. Leave a printed copy in a prominent place at home for quick access.

The 911 Emergencies

It is impossible to list all the potential emergencies involving kids. However, the following list will give an idea of the medical issues that require an immediate 911 call:

• Anaphylaxis – a severe allergic reaction
• Bleeding uncontrollable
• Broken bones
• Choking
• Coma
• Delirium
• Diarrhea with bloody stools
• Dizziness
• Heat stroke
• Nosebleeds
• Serious burns
• Shortness of breath not caused by exertion
• Slurring of speech
• Sudden loss of vision
• Vomiting blood

This is by no means an exhaustive list. It gives just an indication of the kinds of medical conditions that merit a 911 call. When in doubt, the babysitter should call you or your family doctor for instructions on prompt action.

It is important that the babysitter stays calm and gives precise details when she reports an emergency. The best way to ensure this is to ask her act out a few scenarios wherein she mimics calling you or the doctor or 911; guide her to correct lapses, if any.

If she cannot get through to you or the doctor for some reason, tell her calling 911 is the right thing to do, even if the emergency turns out to be nothing serious.

The babysitter may feel perhaps that all these instructions and precautions make a molehill into a mountain. She needs to be convinced that this kind of practice will make her better at her job and handle emergencies confidently without panicking.

A few posts that follow will cover specific medical emergencies in some detail and suggest how the babysitter can deal with them.