Diaper changes on special needs students

jess1215 · Oct 30, 2009

Sorry, I am guilty of not reading all the replies....

I am a classroom nurse (I am there because there is a very medically compromised student and therefore am the nurse for the classroom). In our school, we are all interchangeable. I think "offically" it is the job of the special ed department to change diapers.....but on a day to day basis there isn't a designated person who does the job. If the class assistant is tied up in the bathroom, and the teacher has to run and catch a phone call, I will even jump in and go on with the classroom routine. Of course there is a line that can't be crossed, the teachers can't give meds....and I can't write thier IEP's.....but we all just work together to get the job done.

LovebugLPN · Oct 31, 2009

I know I am being very picky here but I just can't get past the word "diaper". I always corrected people when they referred to them as such. They are not babies.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Oct 31, 2009

The Special Ed class the child belongs to. If the teacher's assistant is out for the day, they call me to change the female student because the teacher is male. If I had to do that everyday I would be miserable. They are hard to change.

Call me miserable then. I'm the parent of one of these special people.

jess1215 · Oct 31, 2009

There are definetly worse things in life than taking care of the bathroom business. It needs to be done, and it gets done. But that is the nurse in me and VERY little turns my stomach.

Yes, coming from a more traditional setting, the term "diaper" was disturbing to me....but when I said "attends" or "brief" I got blank stares. So I for the sake of not confusing everyone I go with the crowd.

SchoolNurseBSN · Nov 1, 2009

I have no problem helping out when I am on campus. My problem is that "nobody" else in the entire buliding will serve as an emergency back up. We are talking about having to step up probably less than 5 times in an entire school year.

It is the resposibility of the entire staff to provide for the comfort of this student and not just the nurse!

Certainly, I cannot get in the car and travel 40 miles while on maternity leave post c/section to change this poor child! Yet, my principal is insinuating that by going on maternity leave - I am ignoring my duties! Therefore, she feels the nurse at he junior high who has over 1200 high needs students and is emergency coverage for 3 other schools needs to drop everything and become responsible for the task.

Chloe37 · Feb 10, 2011

I've been in the doghouse with the principal at my school since the second year I started there. The first year was good. There was a school nurse to take care of the students and a special needs teacher who took care of her students. I came there as a Health Occupations Teacher. Towards the end of the year. The school nurse got married and was going to move away. So the principal asked me to take over the school nurse position. She said it would be for a couple of months until she could get a new one. So I said ok. When school started. I taught two classes and was the school nurse the rest of the time. We also had a new special needs teacher and she refused to change the students who needed it. She said it wasn't her job. That is what a nurse is for. Third months into the school year. I was told by the principal that she wasn't going to get a school nurse. A school nurse didn't do much anyway and I could handle the job and be a teacher too. So I wear many hats at the school. I teach 2 classes a day,a school nurse and the diaper changer for the special ed class. I don't like it at all,but there is nothing I can do about it. The principal will not get me an assistant to help ease the burden on me. She said it is not needed and the money for a new school nurse or an assistant for me could be better used in other areas like in sports department. The principal said school nurses don't bring money into the school. Sports do.

SchoolNurseBSN · Feb 10, 2011

I've been in the doghouse with the principal at my school since the second year I started there. The first year was good. There was a school nurse to take care of the students and a special needs teacher who took care of her students. I came there as a Health Occupations Teacher. Towards the end of the year. The school nurse got married and was going to move away. So the principal asked me to take over the school nurse position. She said it would be for a couple of months until she could get a new one. So I said ok. When school started. I taught two classes and was the school nurse the rest of the time. We also had a new special needs teacher and she refused to change the students who needed it. She said it wasn't her job. That is what a nurse is for. Third months into the school year. I was told by the principal that she wasn't going to get a school nurse. A school nurse didn't do much anyway and I could handle the job and be a teacher too. So I wear many hats at the school. I teach 2 classes a day,a school nurse and the diaper changer for the special ed class. I don't like it at all,but there is nothing I can do about it. The principal will not get me an assistant to help ease the burden on me. She said it is not needed and the money for a new school nurse or an assistant for me could be better used in other areas like in sports department. The principal said school nurses don't bring money into the school. Sports do.

Ok, steam is shooting from my ears right now! Please do not think I am flaming you, because you sound like you are just trying to be a team player at your campus and you deserve kuddos for doing that. It is your principal's attitude that is the most disturbing! :devil:

What is in your district's job description for a school nurse? Does it list a little something like a "nursing license required?" Your principal and yourself (unwittingly) could be putting yourselves in a very bad situation if something happens to a student. Are you calling yourself a school nurse? Because if you are calling yourself that and not a health aide, you are practicing without a proper license. Do you have a policies and procedures manual to go by, have you been trained at all by your district on student health needs? Do you know what your state immunization requirements are? Do you know how to do a neurological assessment on a student with a head injury? Do you know what communicable diseases need to be reported to your health department? Are you hearing and vision certified? Do you know what the 5 rights of safe medication administration are? How do you document on the students you take care of? Do you know CPR? I could go on and on.....I fear that you just don't know what you don't know

Wow! nurses do bring in money. States kick in so much money per kid per day., Nurses KEEP kids in school, that's our JOB! it has been shown that schools without a nurse show much higher absences (meaning lost money).

Ask any one of us here what we deal with on a daily basis! None of us would agree that we do NOTHING, that's for sure! Ask how many of us have had to draw upon everything we learned in nursing school to get us through a trying week. Ask how many of us actually eat lunch or take breaks away from our desk!

I think your principal needs to be replaced with the lunch lady and while we are at it, I am sure the janitor would make a fine counselor! Hey, why not just pull in a random person off the street to teach math?

Chloe37 · Feb 15, 2011

No to be a school nurse in the district. You don't have to have a nursing license. All you have to know is basic first aid and how to do CPR. Anything above that. The school nurse is to call the paramedics. I know alot more than that. Because before I was a teacher. I was a nurse in a doctor's office for a few years. Yes I know my state's immunization requirements. We can't give out medication. If a student needs to take medicine. A parent or guardian has to come to the school and give the medicine to the student. The district put that into place to keep the district safe from being sued. I put the records on the computer. I know nurses bring money into the school,but the way the principal looks at it. It is small peanuts compared to the big money that sports bring into the school. The way the principal puts it. When is the last time you seen a state champion that comes from nursing,but sports can bring in state champions and that is more important than getting a school nurse.

Jolie, BSN · Feb 15, 2011

Chloe,

While you may meet the qualifications for your district's "health" position, you do not meet the legal requirements to use the protected title of "nurse." To call oneself a nurse, one must have graduated from a state-approved nursing education program and hold a license, either as an LPN or RN. To use the title of "nurse" when you do not meet these qualifications is illegal.

Please don't refer to yourself as such, for risk of legal ramifications.

Chloe37 · Feb 21, 2011

I did gradurate from a state approved nursing program and hold a license. I was a nurse before I went back to school to be a teacher,but I never let my license expire. I kept renewing them. Incase I decided to go back to being a nurse.

SchoolNurseBSN · Feb 21, 2011

I did gradurate from a state approved nursing program and hold a license. I was a nurse before I went back to school to be a teacher,but I never let my license expire. I kept renewing them. Incase I decided to go back to being a nurse.

I apologize! I did not understand from your original post that you were indeed a nurse. Makes much more sense now:eek:

bergren · Feb 23, 2011

"it has turned into big hoopla that the front office may have to take a temp or two while i am on maternity leave. Please, I have a very small, very low needs school and I am only there 2 days as it is. I typically see 3-7 kids a day (mostly peepee pants, papercuts, lost baby teeth)."

Big hoopla of non nurses to take over nurisng responsiblities is another term for job security.