Lessons learned: Revising the national health and safety standards related to staff health for early care and education programs

Background: Maintaining health and safety of children in out-of-home child care is of primary importance to families and educators in early care and education settings. Caring for Our Children: National Health and Safety Performance Standards: Guidelines for Out-of-Home Child Care (2nd ed.) is the authoritative resource for evidenced-based practice standards in health and safety in early care and early education settings. These health and safety standards are currently being revised for a 3rd edition. The purpose of this session is to describe the revision process of the national health and safety standards related to staff health for early care and education programs.

Methods: The National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care and Early Education, through its cooperative agreement with the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, coordinated the revision process. The staff health technical panel consisted of six national experts in staff health in early care and education. These national experts reviewed, updated, and added standards guided by the latest evidence-based research and consensus building.

Results: Seventy-nine staff health standards were reviewed and updated: Four new staff health standards were created to reflect the latest research in health and safety in early care and education settings. These standards included: staff qualifications, training, continuing education, child care health consultation, health assessment, health education, immunizations, nutrition, health promotion, disease prevention, child exclusion policies, and environmental considerations.

Conclusions: The national health and safety standards provide evidence-based practice guidelines for health and safety of children and staff involved in out-of-home child care.