"I'm Dizzy"

Specialties School

Published

Specializes in School Nurse.

I think I hear this 10x a day. I do a temp check, PERL, ask about congestion, food/water intake, when it started...etc. What do you guys include in your "dizzy" assessment?

I have little guys so I ask what dizzy means to them. Sometimes dizzy means hungry or hot or something completely different. I check temp, a quick pulse, ask where they were and what they were doing when it started, maybe tap on their sinuses to see if they're having sinus issues(bigger kids only), observe their eyes and their general behavior, ask about any head injuries today or recently, ask if they've eaten- provide water, crackers, maybe rest them a while. I do get "I feel dizzy" a lot

Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

Blood pressure, heart rate, temp, respiratory rate (but my kids are in high school so I feel they know what "dizzy" means).

I have been getting a lot of dizzy kids lately too. 90% of the time they haven't had breakfast or lunch or nothing to drink after PE. I'm also curious as to what others include in their assessments.

I have been getting a lot of dizzy kids lately too. 90% of the time they haven't had breakfast or lunch or nothing to drink after PE. I'm also curious as to what others include in their assessments.

Pretty much this.

I will also ask what happened when they got dizzy. Often it's "I stood up to go to the bathroom" and I tell them to stand up more slowly next time.

Specializes in School nursing.
Blood pressure, heart rate, temp, respiratory rate (but my kids are in high school so I feel they know what "dizzy" means).

I don't always jump right to BP with my HS kids, I'll admit. I check HR and RR and have them hydrate. Dizzy often goes hand in hand with dehydration. Or skipping breakfast.

My MS kids say they are dizzy all the time. A lot of time it is a real symptom for them, but I've learned is code for overwhelmed and they need a check-in to reduce anxiety. So I include a "tell me about your day so far" in my assessment as I look at them. Many of them actually have opened up surprisingly.

Of course, the above is when I look at them and they appear otherwise fine.

Specializes in School Nursing.

I am also interested to read what others have to say! Dizzy is a frequent complaint for me, too.

I check: Temp, HR, assess skin for color (I literally know more than 1/2 of my 800+ student body so I am confident in this)/clamminess/temp, general demeanor, "did you eat breakfast/snack/lunch," "did you sleep well last night," "did you feel fine in the morning," "have you felt this way before," and their gait as they go to get water.

I am also unlikely to check B/P unless I see other warning signs in my assessment. A lot of my elementary students say "dizzy" when they are nauseated.

I did have one child who I sent home repeatedly d/t persistence of her complaint. She saw her pediatrician and the parent was able to confidently reassure her and probably ask her not to keep telling people she was dizzy. Dizziness, like breathing complaints, is hard for staff to not be nervous about so although many of my "dizzy" children feel fine, I tend to send home if none of my tricks (snack, rest, distraction) seem to resolve it.

Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

Dizzy is a popular middle school complaint around here. they get the standard battery of questions: did you eat? Are you congested? (which then i usually have explain the word congested) They always say no to this one. I make them prove it. About 70% of the time, they are down to half a nostril to breathe out of. Were you running around at recess/ pe? (no / a little, as they are standing there out of breath dripping in sweat). Etc.

The treatment is usually the same. Get some water, rest for a few minutes, get ye back to class. I think in my time here in the job i've only had 1 or 2 actual syncopes - and that was definitely not a walkie talkie type thing, that was more of a i feel funny, standing up, no - passing out type thing.

Specializes in ED, School Nurse.

I strongly dislike the "I'm dizzy/I feel like I am going to faint/pass out" complaint. 99% of the time it's nothing, but it's such a vague complaint, and is the symptom for some really crappy medical diagnoses. I do a BP and HR on almost all of my dizzy complaints. It's almost always normal, but I use that to tell the student "Well your blood pressure and heart rate are normal, so try this this and this." One time I checked a resting HR of a dizzy student and it was 140. And I was a brand new school nurse having just come from working in the ER for 5 years and I was really missing my EKG machine/cardiac monitor and stat labs at that point in my career. I don't miss that stuff quite so much now. ;)

If the student looks like they feel like poo with a dizzy complaint, I will call home and let the parent decide what they want to do. Most of the time it's eat, drink, take off your sweatshirt when it's 90 degrees out, etc. and back to class.

Specializes in school/military/OR/home health.

I ask about food and water intake, recent URI or allergies/colds, check temp, assess activity level, questions about recent injuries, etc, and then just in general assess appearance. Color, demeanor, balance, you all know the deal. I have K-4 so the littles say dizzy and it might mean 100 other things, and the older ones usually mean dizzy when they say dizzy, but I just hate this c/o. I usually am able to blame it on dehydration, but the kids never believe me when I tell them water will make them feel better.

Feels like in the Army when we would c/o ANYTHING, the answer was always "drink water". Well, a lot of times water is the answer!!

I am in a middle school and we will check temp, HR and BP. Of course a lot of the kids haven't eaten or had much to drink that day, which is frustrating because our school has free breakfast for everyone!! We do have a number of kiddos who have had a low BP so we keep them in the HR and make them drink water until they come up. A call always goes home- sometime the kid does too. :-)

Specializes in School nurse.

I also check ears.

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