There are two types of medical management plans:

• general school plans for precautions for the whole site, and
• individual plans for particular students with intensive health care requirements.

General school plans

School plans should include:

• procedures for routine care such as standard infection control precautions
• allocation of responsibility for overseeing and implementing procedures action plans for common medical crises such as an epileptic seizure, an acute asthma attack or hypoglycaemic episode in diabetes
• training programs, and
• review procedures.

Individual medical management plans

Individual medical management plans should be devised for students with intensive or complex conditions such as unstable epilepsy or haemophilia. These plans necessitate consultation with the student and with relevant personnel (eg parents/carers, medical practitioners, nurses and para-medical staff, therapists, teachers aides).

In the case of a change of medication that must be administered at school, written authorisation should be provided by the medical practitioner.

All medical management plans must take into account issues of confidentiality and privacy to ensure that personal information about individual students is treated with respect. Judgement should be made about who has a 'need to know' the information in the plan. In some situations this will only be staff directly involved with the student, while in others all staff will need to be aware of the plan so that they are able to take action if necessary.

Plans should indicate when there is any restriction on discussing the student's medical condition. In some situations plans or aspects of plans may be subject to restriction and legislation covering privacy and storage of records. (ie The Tasmanian HIV/AIDS Preventative Measures Act, 1993). Where appropriate, plans should include strategies to inform relief teachers, pre-service teachers and stand-in teachers, of individual medical needs.

Medical management plans should include, when relevant:

• information on the student's medical condition
• symptoms and consequences of the condition
• indicators of the need for medical intervention
• contact people and phone numbers (such as medical practitioner and parents)
• clear instructions to cover all foreseeable circumstances including management in class, and out in the yard, and management on excursions or school camps
• emergency procedures
• specific information about medication including administration and storage, timing, dosage and possible side effects
• relevant forms and written advice from medical practitioners and parents regarding the medical treatment of the student
• any specific instructions on meal management
• toileting procedures and management
• the people responsible for particular actions
• consideration of issues of privacy and confidentiality, and
• the degree of involvement by the student in their own medical action plan.

A copy of the medical management plan should be kept in school files and be available to those who may need to use it. General emergency procedures may need to be displayed in a prominent place such as a classroom wall. Some individual medical management plans, or aspects of them, may need to be displayed in a prominent place. The parents, and in some situations the student, are to be provided with copies of the medical management plan.

Each medical management plan should be reviewed:

• annually, unless circumstances change
• when the student's medical condition changes significantly.

A sample medical management plan is available as a guide, however, given the diversity of student conditions and circumstances, it is recommended that you use the bullet points listed above as a reference in developing an individualised medical management plan.

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