Calling parents

Specialties School

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Ok, so this afternoon my principal stops in and tells that I need to call every parent for anything besides a bandaid. He asked how I made a decision as to who to call. I replied, "nursing judgment". He said parents want to be kept in the loop more and I am to call for all but the most minor things. Apparently my five years of college and 30+ years of experience no longer matter. It just seems that the longer I do this, the less parents trust me. Not just me but the teachers too, and the schools in general. You want called at work every time your kid asks for a TUMS after lunch, sure, I can so that. Oh, and I am in high school, not elementary. Now of course I will follow the directive I was given, but really? Not sure if this post is more of a rant or a question, but is anyone else dealing with this type of thing?

Kick your documentation into high gear and create a flutter of documents designed to keep the Admin and the parents in the loop. Chart the visit, make the phone call and generate "notices" distributed to the principal and parents for every visit. Request they check a box, sign and return to you to verify that they have been notified. If they do not return the slips to you, make additional phone calls pointing out they were notified of the sore throat on 5/5/2018 but did not respond to the notification. Ask to meet weekly with the principal so you can go over the notifications he did not respond to. Have the dates ready. Inform him you are closing the loop on his loop and you want to loop the parents into this new loop. Call all parents on Monday who did not respond to last week's notifications. If anyone grumbles, it's the new policy to keep everyone in the loop. Long live documentation!

Specializes in kids.

Instead of a call I often shoot a email...digital trail...

Specializes in School Nurse.

I have a question... can you email health information with HIPAA? I don't leave detailed information when I leave voicemails. I say something, "Suzy is fine, but if you can give me a call..." I would love to have my parents sign up for Remind if they want to know about every visit.

Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
I have a question... can you email health information with HIPAA? I don't leave detailed information when I leave voicemails. I say something, "Suzy is fine, but if you can give me a call..." I would love to have my parents sign up for Remind if they want to know about every visit.

Technically, HIPAA does not apply here, FERPA does. I don't leave detailed voice mails when the parent does not identify him/herself on the phone, either. I think it depends on the situation...someone has a head injury on a Wednesday and I'm going to be reasonably aggressive in trying to find a guardian to talk with. If this happens on a Friday afternoon at 2 PM? And I can't find a live person to give them the 411? I might just send a detailed email. Because I won't be there tomorrow to answer questions. Heck...I won't be there in two hours!

Do you have a feel for where the principal's motivation is coming from? Is it he and the board doing an end run to protect themselves or has a parent with "position" made contact and again he/she is throwing the baby out with the bath water? That said, my license allows me to make nursing judgements about the assessment I provide. Things are happening all around us, we are being blindsided, taking our eyes off of the real issue, our children, I suggest a focused attention on our children, If they are floundering to whom do they have to turn?

Specializes in Med/Surg/Infection Control/Geriatrics.

Sounds to me like someone needs to have a meeting.

I was a teacher for many years and our small high school had 2 nurses. Actually, the principals encouraged the nurses to call parents as little as possible because the parents complained about being disturbed at work. Most of these parents, however, were less involved, whether by choice or due to business. Maybe the principal is determining the level of communication based on what the parents desire. It sounds like a frustrating situation. Good luck!

We have passes that the students use...I keep one copy and give the other back to them. Often with the problematic parents, and if in my judgement a call isn't needed, I tell the kids to put the pass in their planner for their parent. But I have 8,9 and 10 yr olds....High School?

Just a funny tidbit (as I'm sure there are some of you who have finished out the school year and are certainly missing the excitement each day brings ;))

I received a call from my son's school nurse about ten minutes ago. He fell while playing basketball and tweaked his wrist. That's all.

HAPPY SUMMER!!!!!!!

Specializes in Trauma, Teaching.

Just a note to say why my daughter insisted on being called for every little thing.... my grandchildren were foster kids. We literally had to call the state on their special line to report a puppy climbed on the child and left a red mark. Not a scratch, with open skin, just a red mark. If there was a bruise, we called. Fall off the scooter with a helmet on, scrape a knee, call the state. Made a "suicidal" reference (because the 8 yo knew how to push buttons), didn't get the call from the school, until pick up, where upon we had to call the state. Considering the sheer clumsy factor of the younger one, we called that number a lot. Can you say speed dial? If during the social worker visit there was an unreported "mark", we risked losing the kids.

the good news? The ADOPTIONS are complete!! no more reports! So now we, and the school nurse :) can relax.

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