School Nurses are the First Responders for Bites in the Classroom

Newswise — Teachers and other staff members can sustain a human bite while trying to protect a student from injury. School nurses are the first responders for these types of incidents and are responsible for accurately reporting on the time and mechanism of injury, administering immediate wound care and supporting proactive care in the form of adult hepatitis B immunization.

When a human bite is sustained, the most common question asked by the victim is the risk for HIV transmission. However, epidemiological data shows that the transmission rate for HIV from saliva is insignificant. The real threats from a human bite are hepatitis B and/or C transmission and wound infection. Hepatitis B is 100 times more infectious than HIV and 10 times more infectious than hepatitis C. School nurses can help reduce the rate of infection by initiating proper wound-management strategies.

Human bites are ranked as the third leading type of bite seen in hospital emergency departments. It is difficult to establish a true number of human bites that occur in the school setting because bites are underestimated, underreported, and undertreated. Considering the potential for an acute or chronic disease outcome, the number of human bites suffered by teachers and school employees is alarming. Bites can occur anywhere on the body, but the most common sites seen in the school population are on the hand or arms.

School nurses need to take a proactive stand and promote a policy that all teachers, especially those working in high-risk areas with known or potential biters, be educated on the importance of adult immunizations, especially the hepatitis B vaccine. When teachers and other school staff members are educated about the risks associated with human bites they are more likely to report the incident quickly, seek treatment, and understand their risks for hepatitis and HIV.

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The Journal of School Nursing is the peer-reviewed, bimonthly journal of the National Association of School Nurses. The Journal of School Nursing provides a forum for advancing the specialty of school nursing and promoting the professional growth of school nurses. For more information about the association, please visit http://www.nasn.org.