"My child came to the nurse? Why didn't anyone call me??"

[safarirn]

Ugh!

A kindergartener came in on THURS saying, "my head feels hot." He had no other complaints. I took his temp. It was 98.2. Visually assessed him, he looked fine. I let him rest. After laying down for approximately 3 minutes, he states, "I feel better now." And he bounced away, running back to return to class.

On FRIDAY mom comes in with cream for a small rash to his foot. And I mention "Oh yeah, I remember seeing XXXX, he was in my office yesterday."

Well, that's where I went wrong. Cuz then it was 20 questions after that. I told her EXACTLY what the visit entailed. Even after hearing what it was about, she was still upset that she wasn't notified of his visit. I am just dumb-founded.

If I called EVERY parent of every child that visited my office for EVERY complaint, I'd NEVER get off the phone.

[L8RRN]

Well, as a mom, thank you for NOT calling with every little thing. I may be weird but I generally think that if the nurse calls about something, then I need to address it...like pick them up or something. I do not need to know that my child has a normal temp! :)

[D.R.A.]

You know how people can be about their pets and children, lol........

[frann]

OMG these people are wack jobs. What are these parents going to do if these kids ever get a chronic condition like diabetes.

[LovebugLPN]

I appreciate that they don't call me because I am going to admit that I am an extemely protective parent. It is ridiculous and horrible. My son and husband laugh at me. If the school nurse called me every time my son was in her office (I don't think he has actually gone in the last 3 years) it would ruin my whole day with worry. So thank you for not calling for normal temps and scraped knees because there are crazy moms like me out there.

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

Well, as a mom, thank you for NOT calling with every little thing. I may be weird but I generally think that if the nurse calls about something, then I need to address it...like pick them up or something. I do not need to know that my child has a normal temp! :)

I agree. My oldest child would go to the nurse just about every day for one minor complaint or another. He didn't like school and once he figured out that claiming to be nauseous would get him out of class he used it to the fullest *this was in high school!* Day after day his nurse would call me with "John is feeling nauseous, he threw up." I finally told the nurse that unless he is had a fever over 100 or vomits in her pocket, I did NOT want to be called. That stopped the calls. Until the day he had a gran mal seizure(first one) and fell out of his desk unconscious. He was very post-ictal and she called me to ask if she should call 911. Duh. I didn't have a good feeling about this nurse.

At my middle school I tried not to call parents unless I really needed to--vomit x2, lice,lac, head or facial injury, seizure, suspected fracture, asthma no responding to inhaler, high/low BS, etc. Sometimes I would send home a note explaining something, but who knows how many of them actually reached the parents. I think if I were in an elementary school I would probably send home a note for clinic visits, especially for kids in K-2. And certainly for any injury that needed more than a small bandaid I would call.

[luvschoolnursing, LPN]

When I worked in elementary school, if there was a parent that wanted called each time their child came to visit, I would. I remember one parent that after the 9th time in one week (the kid had dry, itchy "winter" skin:uhoh3:) she said she didn't want called anymore. I also didn't see the kid anymore unless He was really sick! Sometimes it's worth calling the over anxious parents because it lets them see just how many times their child comes to the health office. I don't think some parents have any idea how often some students wander into our offices.

[Bella'sMyBaby]

Early in my career, I worked for a Pediatrician & I'm here to tell you..... the Parents acted worse than the kids!!!!!!

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

When I worked in elementary school, if there was a parent that wanted called each time their child came to visit, I would. I remember one parent that after the 9th time in one week (the kid had dry, itchy "winter" skin:uhoh3:) she said she didn't want called anymore. I also didn't see the kid anymore unless He was really sick! Sometimes it's worth calling the over anxious parents because it lets them see just how many times their child comes to the health office. I don't think some parents have any idea how often some students wander into our offices.

I have employed this technique with some frequent flyers, students that have more than 4 visits in a month. I always want to make sure there's not something underlying going on. And I tell parents that I will continue to call them each and every time their child shows up. A few weeks of that usually cures both parent and child.

I had a few girls who came every day of their periods, sometimes 2-3 times a day, to get a pad. I would tell them every month, 'You need to keep supplies in your purse/locker. Mark your calendar because you are going to have this every month until you turn 50." When that still had no effect I called their parents and told them they would need to send in a package of pads to keep in the clinic because it was not the school's duty to provide feminine protection every day of their period. There were some very embarrassed parents and every one of those girls changed their ways.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

that's my usually MO with those who want a call everytime. Then they will get a call EVERY time. They almost without fail get sick of hearing from me so often and tell me that i don't need to call unless it's urgent.

[pugmomrn]

When my little girl came home from school with a bandaid on her knee for the first time, I remember saying "Don't I at least get a note???"

Then, I became a school nurse!!

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

When my little girl came home from school with a bandaid on her knee for the first time, I remember saying "Don't I at least get a note???"

Then, I became a school nurse!!

I know what you mean. I still get a little put out when my DS14 comes home with bumps and bruises. He's severely mentally handicapped and non-verbal, so he can't tell me what happened. When he comes home with a great big ole knee bandaid and no note, no nothing, I'm left to try to figure it out myself. Christian has suffered 3 significant injuries since September--a concussion, a facial injury, and a severely bruised hip and knee which put him into a wheelchair for a week. Yeah. We called an IEP meeting after that, for safety concerns. Thankfully, the teacher called me, but I would have really liked to get the nurse's observations. Now I just tell the teacher unless it's a red, white, or blue emergency just call me and I'll come up there and check him out, since the real school nurse doesn't seem to be able to do that.