Health Policies and Principles for Asthma in Primary School Children

NUR 212 1
Asthma in Primary School Children
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NUR 212 2
Health Policies Applied to Primary School Children with Asthma
Asthma in primary school children is among the major health concerns in Australia.
This is due to the fact that, asthma in young children below the age of 15 is a common cause
of vast presentation to admission in a hospital or the emergency departments(Health, National
Institutes of National Heart, Lung, 2014). The diagnosis of asthma in children is normally
considered when a child presents with symptoms such as wheeze, cough, and difficulty in
breathing(National Asthma Council Australia, 2015). The Australia Asthma with the
collaboration of the Department of Health and Australian Institute and Health Welfare
(AIHW) have created various health policies and guidelines for primary school children in
order to cab the complication of asthma and promote the quality and safety health in
children(Evans-Agnew, Klein and Lecce, 2015). Such health policies act as a guideline for
schools, teachers, parents, and children of which they are intended to be practiced fully to
promote the welfare and quality of health to primary school children with asthma.
Health policies for supporting primary school children with asthma at schools are
guided by the Australian Law and Legislation including the Occupational Health and Safety
Act 2004 that make sure all teachers are well trained in first aid, the Education and Training
Reform Act 2006 that clearly indicate that a school have to take responsibilities to safeguard
the health of its students and the Schools Policy Advisory Guide that ensures all children with
special needs will be assisted by the schools through guidance by medical care
professionals(Long-sighted, 2014). There are various legal obligations for schools in relation
to primary children with asthma which include the duty of care and disability discrimination
legislation(Binns, James, and Lee, 2013). Regarding the duty of care, all staffs working at
schools in Australia have responsibilities to take reasonable steps that are intended to protect
primary school children in their care from risks of injury that are within their capacity and
foreseeable(Al-Motlaq and Sellick, 2014).

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Relating to asthma management, all schools in Australia together with their staffs
have a duty to take reasonable steps to inform themselves as for whether the primary school
enrolled children are diagnosed with asthma(National Asthma Council of Australia, 2016).
There are various ways schools and staff can determine whether a kid enrolled has asthma.
This includes through asking their parents if their kid has asthma by use of application forms.
where this question is not answered, it is the responsibility of a teacher and the school he or
she is working for to perform a follow up in order to obtain sufficient information(Al-Motlaq
and Sellick, 2014). The other way a school can obtain information regarding asthma in
primary school children is by reminding parents frequently to inform them on any change of
circumstance in terms of newly diagnosis children(The National Asthma Council Australia,
2012).
Asthma is normally under the category of disability and in that case, the Disability
Discrimination Act 1992 and the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 are applied(National Asthma
Council of Australia, 2016). This depicts that, all Australian schools must make sure primary
children with asthma are not discriminated either indirectly or directly(Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2015). Direct discrimination occurs when a primary school kid is treated
unequally just because he or she has asthma. For instance, the school may decide not to allow
kids with asthma to go camping. Indirect discrimination may occur where teacher perform
exercises that may trigger acute asthma attack thus the kids with asthma opt not to
participate(Evans-Agnew, Klein and Lecce, 2015). The schools have responsibilities to adjust
certain routines in order to accommodate children with asthma. The Department of Health
recommends that any school that has children with asthma must have an asthma management
policy(National Asthma Council Australia, 2015). An asthma management policy contains an
agreement that the school will comply with the health guides for asthma management as