2023-09-04 08:49:53
The return to “school” begins between September 6 and 15 in Spain and the medical professionals of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) recall the importance of monitoring chronic diseases in the classroom and knowing how to act in case of emergency.
One in four schoolchildren in Spain suffers from some chronic disorder. EFE/Biel Aliño
Going back to “school” means that more than six million children and adolescents return to educational classrooms in Spain. One in four suffers from some disorder or chronic disease, according to figures from the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training for the academic year 2022-2023.
The most common are those of metabolismas the obesity and derivatives, diabetes, asthma and allergies, epilepsy and neurodevelopmental and learning disordersLike the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those problems derived from the prematurity at birth.
In recent years, as indicated by the medical professionals of the AEPap, cases of chronic diseases in school-age children have increased. This may be due to the improvement in diagnosis from Primary Care centers or life habits that promote the appearance of disorders. Experts also warn of the increase in preterm births in recent years.
EFE/Enric Fontcuberta
The role of pediatricians
Faced with this reality, the AEPap Remember that it is the Primary Care (PC) paediatricians who act as a direct “link” between children who suffer from a disorder or chronic illness and parents and teachers.
“Boys and girls spend a very important part of their lives in school and, although most of them are in good health, it is increasingly common for them to present chronic problems and pathologies,” explains the doctor Pedro Gorrotxategi, second vice president of AEPap.
Likewise, the doctor adds that pediatricians “should have a role in the school community to be able to disseminate skills and knowledge to families and teachers to address the different situations that may arise in schools and act if necessary” .
On the other hand, they stress the importance of carry out, in the case of a complex chronic illness, a care plan for the children and, in the aftermathcarry out a follow-up of the pathology.
EFE/JMAragón
Help Guide for Teaching Centers
In it year 2015the AEPap published the Help Guide for Teaching Centersthat is gone updating since then. This open and available to schools and institutes.
Its purpose is serve as a rigorous information tool to facilitate and improve the performance of educational personnel in emergency situations. It is also oriented to the management of a specific chronic disease or disorder on a day-to-day basis.
Some of the emergency procedures that we find in the guide are “How to act in case of choking” or “Basic CPR. How to act”. In addition, we find detailed information and advice on special diets for children with celiac disease or allergies, exercise asthma or diabetes.
The guide divides the information according to the type of educational center. The first part is the “Guide for schools and institutes” and the second, “Guide for Child Care Centers from 0 to 3 years old (nursery schools, nurseries, toy libraries, …)”.
A safe place
The school should be a safe place for patients with any chronic illness or disorder. For this reason, “a care plan is prepared for children with these diseases to be a reference for parents and teachers in their care”, as Dr. Gorrotxategi explains.
Doctor Teresa Cenarro, first vice president of AEPap, recalls that the School “must be a safe place of integration where children with a health problem find a place to develop happily and, at the same time, boys and girls without these problems grow in diversity, and provide security and friendship to students with some illness or disability”.
The “school” should be a safe place for children in every way. EFE/EPA/GUILLAUME HORCAJUELO.
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