The New York State Department of Health has approved unlicensed or uncertified personnel with the basic knowledge and skills to administer epinephrine by auto-injector in a life-threatening allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) situation in compliance with New York State Public Health Law Article 30, section 3000-c.
https://health.ny.gov/professionals/ems/policy/17-02.htm
That’s a mouthful, but exactly what does it mean?
It means that Daycare centers and other eligible entities can stock non-child specific epinephrine auto-injectors to administer to a child who is exhibiting signs of anaphylaxis due to severe allergic reaction to a food or substance.
An “epinephrine auto-injector device” is defined as a single-use device used for the automatic injection of a premeasured dose of epinephrine into the human body, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for emergency treatment of a person appearing to experience anaphylactic symptoms.
Prior to this, the policy of the Department of Health was that a child care provider could only administer an EpiPen® or other epinephrine auto-injector device to a child with written instructions from his/her authorized health care provider and written permission from the child’s parent. Under no circumstance could the life-saving epinephrine auto-injector be used for another child who was experiencing a life-threatening anaphylaxis episode.
Now you are in a better position to save a life!
But before you go running off to purchase a bunch of EpiPens® or other epinephrine auto-injector device, your program needs to follow three mandatory steps.
1. You need to have a health care practitioner or pharmacist authorized to prescribe medications may prescribe, dispense or provide an epinephrine auto-injector device to or for an eligible person or entity by a non-patient-specific prescription.
2. Select and successfully complete a training course in the use of epinephrine auto-injector devices.
3. Create written policies and procedures related to:
• the acquisition, storage, accounting, and proper disposal of used auto-injectors.
• the training of authorized users;
• the use of the epinephrine auto-injector;
• a method of making notification of the use of the epinephrine auto-injector;
• a method for documentation of the use of the epinephrine auto-injector; and
• a process for quality assurance.
Training is Available
The NYS Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) has approved an Emergency Medication Administration Overview training to child day care programs that are regulated or licensed through the Office.
This training is not mandatory, but it is available for those providers who would be administering emergency medications (epinephrine auto‑injectors, diphenhydramine in combination with the epinephrine auto‑injector, asthma inhalers and nebulizers) in their program, are not MAT certified, and are interested in gaining additional knowledge and training hours on this topic.
This does NOT take the place of the instruction the provider must have from the child’s parent, health care consultant, or healthcare provider as per regulation 41*.11(h)(5)(iv). This training also includes an additional DOH-certified module that satisfies the training requirement for programs that decide to carry stock epinephrine auto-injectors per Chapter 373 of the Laws of 2016.
Keep in mind, you are not mandated by the NYS Department of Health to stock EpiPen® or any other epinephrine auto-injector. It’s a decision that must be considered carefully. However, if your program is interested in receiving training on Emergency Medication Administration and training on stock epinephrine auto-injectors, we encourage you to contact us to learn more and schedule a training date.
