Many Parents, who have their children on medication are concerned about sending their children to summer camp. This is understandable and here is a top ten list composed by camp advocate Dr. Christopher Thurber.
1. Have your son or daughter stay on any medications they take during the school year. If it’s helpful at home or school, it will be helpful at camp.
2. Don’t make major medication changes just prior to camp. The transition to camp is...
Top Ten Medication Management Tips at Camp
By Dr. Christopher Thurber
1. Have your son or daughter stay on any medications they take during the school year. If it’s helpful at home or school, it will be helpful at camp.
2. Don’t make major medication changes just prior to camp. The transition to camp is enough of an adjustment without further complications from medication discontinuance or prescription switches. Make any adjustments a few months before opening day.
3. Discuss dosing and the camp’s daily schedule with your child’s prescribing physician to ensure smooth administration of all medications. The timing of doses at home or school may have to be adjusted at camp because of how the camp’s daily schedule works.
4. Clearly label everything with your child’s name. Prescription bottles are already labeled, but be sure inhalers, nebulizers, Advair discs, and everything elseyour child brings to camp is clearly labeled with his or her name.
5. Openly discuss any medication your child takes with him or her. A surprising number of children don’t understand why they take certain medications and/or why their dosing schedule is designed the way it’s designed. Campers’ adherence to prescription directions will be much better—and any shame will be greatly reduced—if the prescriber and parents have had honest discussions with the child about the medication’s purpose and dosing.
6. Share your child’s medication history with the camp’s health care providers, both on the camp’s health form and in person. Each detail about a child’s assessment, diagnosis, and treatment that parents provide to the camp’s health care providers puts those professionals in a better position to care for that child. Leaving the camp nurse or doctor in the dark about some medical or psychological condition greatly compromises the quality of care they can provide. Trust that the information you provide will be treated confidentially.
7. Meet the camp nurses and doctors on opening day. It’s nice to put a face with a name in case you need to be in contact during the session.
8. Meet your child’s cabin leader on opening day. Share helpful information with him or her about your child and his treatment. (or, if your child travels to camp on a bus, be sure to write a personal letter to the cabin leader about your child and his or her treatment.)
9. Provide the camp with all your contact information (cell, home, work, vacation home, etc.)
10. Relax…camp will take good care of your child.
Dr. Thurber also offered ACA attendees a terrific medication resource he created with the help of his colleague, Joshua Gear, M.D.: “Psychotropic Medication Rapid Reference: A Guide for Camping Professionals.” The Guide is a list of the most common psychotropic medications prescribed to campers along with their generic names, information about what conditions they are intended to treat, common side effects, and (perhaps most importantly) what your health staff should do if a camper on one of these medications misses a dose for some reason. I encourage you and your health staff to visit Dr. Thurber’s excellent website,www.campspirit.com to request a copy of the Guide.
