Hello fellow pediatric nurses!
My name is Laura and I work in a pediatrician's office in Ontario, Canada. I really could use some advice on how to handle this particular situation. I HOPE you can give me some insight.
First a little background. I have a 10 year old son and about two weeks ago he was assaulted by his teacher. To make a long story short, we filed a police report, had a long conversation with the principal and had my son moved out of the classroom. His old teacher is known by most of the kids as a "mean" teacher....and yes...she's still teaching.
The other day at work I was looking through our upcoming schedule when I noticed that one of our young patients will be coming in on Monday and the reason given for his visit is "problems in school." This boy is in my son's old class. Also, I know him and his family quite well and he's generally one of those well adjusted kids who does well in school and has lots of friends.
I pointed out the appointment to my boss and told him that the boy is in my son's old class. (the Doc knows what happened) I don't regret alerting him to this possiblity. But I'm not sure just how far I should allow this to go.
His problems could conceivably be totally unrelated to the teacher...in which case I'd have nothing to worry about. But what if it is the teacher....what if she's hurting yet another child? Is it ethical for me as a nurse to relay to the parent what happened to my son with this teacher? Or should I keep my mouth shut?
I know it's a lot of what if's...but I want to be prepared. If it is indeed the teacher again, then I can't in good conscience stand by and let her hurt a child like she did mine. But at the same time I'm concerned that I'd be overstepping my boundries as a medical professional and getting myself into really hot water.
What would be the correct intervention here?
Thanks
Laura
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