A note about sharing health manuals from the Association of Camp Nursing
Sharing resources is one of the simplest ways to engage within the ECCC and UMCRM networks. We ask questions, share job descriptions, page through other camps’ websites, in search of inspiration, support, or direction. Here are a few considerations from the Association of Camp Nursing about sharing health-related policies and procedures:
Defining a "health manual" is challenging and may contain a variety of items. For some camps, this is a brief summary of health policies while other camps include everything in their health manual.
Each state has different camp regulations that may impact your health protocol decisions.
Camp facilities/structures/layout are different, meaning how you communicate, operate, and access health services at your camp are unique to you.
Camps serve different populations (boys, girls, special needs) that drive decisions about care policies (Ex; a Sports camp will have robust orthopedic policies while an asthma camp has well-constructed protocols for respiratory conditions).
Camps are located in different places which impacts their access to higher-level healthcare services. Decisions about onsite camp health services are impacted by distance from ER or other health supports.
Camp healthcare providers onsite may have significant variance in their scope of practice so you need to understand what camp healthcare providers (typically nurses) can and cannot do and what oversight is required in each state to provide care.
These are some examples of variance between each camp. The beauty of camp is that we are diverse; the challenge of camp is that we are diverse. As you develop or refine your camp health policies/procedures/guidelines, be sure to consider all of these elements (and more) so that your policies reflect your practice, your structure, your state regulations, and your activities. There are many resources available to help you develop your camp "Health manual" on the Association of Camp Nursing website (www.campnurse.org) under Educational Resources.
