Assessing the readiness of a school system to adopt food allergy management guidelines. WMJ 2014 Aug;113(4):155-61
Date
09/13/2014Pubmed ID
25211803Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84906253363 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 13 CitationsAbstract
IMPORTANCE: The prevalence of potentially fatal food allergies in school-aged children is rising. It is important for schools to have a food allergy management policy and an emergency action plan for each affected student.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the current status of food allergy guideline and/or policy implementation and adoption in a large school system in southeastern Wisconsin.
DESIGN: A 24-item anonymous electronic survey was developed and completed by school principals and administrators in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee School System (approximately 125 schools) in southeastern Wisconsin.
RESULTS: One in 4 responding schools reported no guidelines or policy. Schools that reported having students with special needs due to food allergy were more likely to have a local food allergy policy compared to schools that did not report having students with food allergy special needs (OR 6.3, 1.5-26, P = 0.01). Schools with food allergy guidelines/policies were 3.5 times more likely to require student individual action plans than schools with no guidelines or policies (OR 3.5, 1.00-12.2, P = 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Gaps in evidence-based food allergy policy implementation were found in this school system. Schools with food-allergic children with special needs were more likely to have guidelines/policy, however, they were not more likely to require emergency action plans. The majority of schools (66, 90%) reported interest in receiving further information or training on food allergy management.
Author List
Eldredge C, Patterson L, White B, Schellhase KAuthors
Leslie Ruffalo PhD Director, Associate Professor in the Family Medicine department at Medical College of WisconsinKenneth G. Schellhase MD, MPH Adjunct Professor in the Family Medicine department at Medical College of Wisconsin
MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AdolescentChild
Child, Preschool
Female
Food Hypersensitivity
Guidelines as Topic
Humans
Male
Organizational Policy
Schools
Surveys and Questionnaires
Wisconsin
