Sepsis and Camp Nurses

Camp nurses are in a unique position while caring for their charges. They work directly with the campers and counselors 24 hours a day throughout their camp stay. For some children, their time at camp is their first ever time away from home and their parents. The camp nurse is even more important if campers or staff become ill or are injured.

Camp life, with the shared living quarters and new experiences and activities, can lead to illness and injuries. Camp nurses must work on keeping their charges as healthy as possible while dealing with illness and injuries that occur. Because of this close interaction, camp nurses are well placed to help spot and act on infections. They can also help educate the campers and staff of the importance of infection prevention and sepsis awareness.

Sepsis, which was often called blood poisoning, is the body’s life-threatening response to infection. Like strokes or heart attacks, sepsis is a medical emergency that requires rapid diagnosis and treatment. Worldwide, one-third of people who develop sepsis die. Many who survive are left with life-changing effects, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), chronic pain and fatigue, organ dysfunction (don’t work properly), and/or amputations.

Suggested Citation:
Sepsis Alliance. Sepsis and Camp Nurses. 2023. https://www.sepsis.org/sepsisand/camp-nurses/

Updated November 22, 2023.

 

More Information

Pediatric Sepsis Rates
Role of Camp Nurses
Skin Infections
Vaccinations

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Children

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Trevor Buckmaster

Went in on Tuesday 9/3rd 2024 because my son had a deer tick on his back. The ER doctor sent us away because there was no bull’s-eye on his back. He said if he gets high fever get back to the ER. Sunday 9/8/24 we headed back into the ER because Trevor had a high fever. The doctor started treating him with Tylenol and amoxacillin. His heart was working over time because of the high fever. Trevor was back to himself. Doctor want to see if he could find a bed. I said no, if he has another high temperature ... Read Full Story

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Braxton Bumgarner

Braxton is a 13-year-old 7th grader. 5 months ago on August 1, 2024, he said his knee hurt. The next day, it hurt worse, so his Dad took him to urgent care. The doctor basically told him he didn’t really know what pain was even though he said it was a 10. My husband asked if it could be an infection and he said no, he wasn’t showing any signs, even though he never did anything other than an x-ray. He told us to rotate Motrin and Tylenol for the pain. 2 days later we took him to our local ... Read Full Story

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Mateo Rodriguez-Limon

My son Mateo went septic a month before his 2nd birthday. He complained of a pain in his knee and after a 6 hour visit to our local hospital with no outcome we took him to to the children’s hospital. They discovered osteomyelitis in his tibia and within hours he was in full septic shock.He had contracted strep A with no clue how he was not sick and he didn’t have any open wounds. (Sepsis and Group A Streptococcus, Sepsis and Septic Shock) He spent the next 5 weeks in the PICU where they did multiple different treatments to save ... Read Full Story

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Promise Selepe

Blessing was only 6 months when she started being sick. She was irritated and crying nonstop. We went to a general practitioner and she said she was teething. We went home later that night. When I was changing her diaper, I noticed her right leg was swollen I thought it’s nothing serious. I thought it was swollen because of the measles vaccine she got. The following day I noticed she was getting worse so we decided to take her to the local clinic where they sent us to the local hospital. When we got the hospital, while waiting to the ... Read Full Story

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Ryan Lines

Ryan was a active, happy one year old perfect little boy. A month after his birthday Ryan woke up with a snotty nose. Throughout the day he still seemed his happy self. By that afternoon he was having slight temperatures and was starting to not be himself, he was very clingy and wimping, quiet dazed and also wouldn’t weight bear which he had been walking for a few months. We took him to the hospital to be released with that he probably had a virus and just teething. The next morning we noticed Ryan still wasn’t improving so went back ... Read Full Story

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Camp Nurses