How to use an Epi Pen

[Shared by Fun as a Gran]

Bob carries two Epi-pens as part of his emergency kit. These pens are changing their style and colour. My daughter has been provided with a “training” pen. It looks and acts like a really pen, but obviously has no needle or adrenalin in.  The training pen is very handy as we can all use it, play with it, become comfortable with it, see how it feel and works, so that in the event of Bob actually needing to have it used on him we will all feel comfortable and confident to use it correctly.

My daughter, in her wisdom, feels that as many people as possible should learn to use this as one day it may save either her sons life, or that of some passing stranger. Schools and other organisations readily teach basic first aid but no first aid course I have ever been on has had Epi-pen training as part of it. My daughter has had a fast response paramedic turn up to treat Bob but had no idea how to use a pen as she had not been trained.

So over the weekend she spent time allowing the children, Fifi’s friend K ( who spends a lot of time with the family) K’s mum and various others to use the pen, which unlike a real one is able to be re-set, until they all felt comfortable with it. Now while Fifi or K will never be made responsible for Bob, who never goes out without an adult, they may at some stage find themselves with him and a panicking adult and they hopefully should remember what they have learnt and take over and use the pen on him.

So whilst I had the children last night Fifi very proudly taught granddad and I what she had learnt by way of training us on how to use it.

You need quite a bit of strength to get the pen to click. The instructions say “from a height of approx 10cm” but the children are using it from further away than that to make sure their is enough strength behind their swing to get it to fire. Bob cannot manage to get it to fire but knows how to instruct somebody else to use it. Ideally it should be used in the outer thigh of the patient, rather than on top as Fifi is doing for convenience as she is sat down.

I am sharing this with you as allergy sufferers are growing in number and it should give you the confidence to use one if you may ever be called upon to do so.

To acknowledge their achievement they all go a certificate to say they had passed the training.

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