The lesson plan that my client and I choose was infant choking. My client has a baby girl who is six months old, and she would like to learn how to perform CPR and First Aid on her baby in the event that a choking emergency were to occur. Furthermore, she wants to know the causes, and symptoms of infant choking. In addition to this, my client would like to be familiar with preventive measures and be able to perform the skill of relieving a blocked airway in a choking infant. Medline Plus has a wealth of information on choking infants less than one year, and it provides information on infant choking such as causes, symptoms, first aid, prevention, and it includes a section that illustrates how to perform back blows and chest thrust in a choking infant (Heller & Zieve, 2009). The information found on Medline Plus was easy to read and follow which was easy to prepare a lesson plan for my client.
For this lesson, the client will demonstrate how to relieve choking in the conscious infant by the end of the week. However, before the client gets to this step, she will identify the causes of choking and describe the danger signs of choking. The client will identify objects that can cause choking in an infant such as coins, small toy pieces, buttons, balloons, hard candy, wieners and other foods. This can be accomplished through worksheets depicting several items that an infant can choke on and the client can circle those items. In addition, the client will describe the danger signs of choking which include the infant not able to cry, cannot cough, difficult breathing, bluish skin color, and makes high pitched sounds (Heller & Zieve, 2009).
To make sure the client recognizes the danger signs of infant choking she can role play, and be given a short quiz. Both of these goals can be accomplished in a day. In keeping with the momentum of the lesson, the client acknowledges that preventive actions are necessary to keep the infant safe and will have a day to identify these measures. Infant choking can be prevented by making sure not to give children small pieces of food such as, grapes, hot dogs, and popcorn. Before these foods are given to eat, they should be cut up into small pieces to avoid choking. In addition, to make the infants surroundings safe, buttons, coins and small toys should be removed from within reach due to the fact that infants can easily put these items in their mouth and choke (Children's Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota, 2009). With this said to make sure the client understands what is required to prevent infant choking, a mini quiz will be given, or the client can create a bulletin board on how to prevent choking. This brings us to the last part of the lesson which will take a day; the client will practice and demonstrate how to perform back blows and chest thrusts on a conscious choking infant. The client will practice on an infant manikin the steps for relieving a blocked airway or choking. The client will shout for help, and send that person to call 911 and if no one comes then client will begin by holding the infant manikin facedown supporting head and neck and the manikin's body resting on the forearm of the person performing first aid. Next, the client will place the heel of the hand in between the infant manikin's shoulder blades and deliver five strong back blows to dislodge foreign body. As the five back blows have been delivered, the client will "sandwich" the infant manikin between their forearms and support the infants head, neck and back. The client will place infant on a flat surface and deliver five chest thrust with two fingers just below the nipple line. Client will continue with process until infant coughs up foreign body, or passes out. Once the client has practiced relieving the choking infant's airway, she will be given a scenario and will demonstrate relieving a blocked airway on a conscious infant. At which time the client will be checked off for correctly performing the skill. Another activity the client can do is practice along with the CPR and First Aid video, and pause when the client needs remediation and a mini quiz on infant choking can be administered to check for understanding (Hazinski, Gonzales, & O'Neill L, 2006).