26C.6563.20, PE Central, Safety First: Handling Disease and Injury in the HPE Classroom

Course Purpose/Objectives

The purpose of the course is to provide the knowledge and skills teachers need to keep adolescents safe from injury and illnesses while at school. The course will cover the leading school-related injuries and illnesses that students and teachers deal with at any given time during a school year.

Course objectives

At the end of this course, the teacher/coach will be able to:

• Describe the most common health risk behaviors of children and adolescents.
• Describe factors related to the health status and health behaviors of children and adolescents.
• Describe common illnesses and injuries seen in adolescents at school.
• Determine when it is appropriate to apply basic first aid and/or primary treatment vs calling 911.
• Inform families of incidents that have occurred at school and involve them in primary prevention efforts.
• Obtain needs assessment data related to child health and learning and the health risk behaviors of adolescents.

Course Description

A teacher plays a critical role in helping children stay safe while at school and preventing injury and illness while they are away from school. Learning about the common illnesses and injuries that occur at school or are brought to school from home or community can help students develop the foundation for a positive healthy lifestyle. By the time young people reach the age of early adolescence, many of their values and behaviors have been formed. On this premise, our entire course is based on a primary prevention format.

This course addresses the specific illnesses and injuries that are common among adolescents at school, where a teacher must be ready to take immediate action. It will also discuss illness and injuries that may occur at home or in the community and brought to school, where a teacher must be ready to react after the fact.