Too Sick To Stay Policy?

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Do you all have a policy where the nurse can decide a student is too sick to stay at school? Even if there is no GI upset or fever? With a Dr's note? Can I see some examples? I'm trying to come up with some verbiage to add to our policy.

We had a parent bring a child (staff-child at that) come in saying the child had croup, but the doctor's note said they were OK to return as long as they were free of fever for 24 hours. She didn't have a fever and according to mom hadn't had one at all. So per the note, she was OK to return even though I thought she needed some more time at home (she still acted/looked/seemed sick). Principal ok'd it. Yada yada. Come to find out, mom wasn't exactly truthful about the fever and now we have more cases of croup with one in the ER for it. Just trying to see what we can change to hopefully prevent this in the future. We're a small charter and currently, our policy is to just follow our local district's guidelines (which their stance is it's OK to return with Dr note) and follow state statutes.

Thanks for your guidance! I just want to make sure we're doing everything we should be.

Specializes in ED, School Nurse.
Do you guys ever have parents who are happy to pick up their sick kids?

When I was young, my Mom was so sweet about keeping us home or picking us up if we got sick at school.

I have never seen any post on here about parents who are glad to get their kids from school or keep them home to start with when sick.

Sure we do! We just don't really talk about that here because, speaking for myself at least ;), I don't need advice, guidance or support from my "coworkers" (this is our virtual nurse's station) regarding parents who are happy/able to pick up sick students.

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Do you guys ever have parents who are happy to pick up their sick kids?

When I was young, my Mom was so sweet about keeping us home or picking us up if we got sick at school.

I have never seen any post on here about parents who are glad to get their kids from school or keep them home to start with when sick.

I even have a few that want to keep their kid home for EVERYTHING and end up in truancy court by the end of the year.

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Do you guys ever have parents who are happy to pick up their sick kids?

When I was young, my Mom was so sweet about keeping us home or picking us up if we got sick at school.

I have never seen any post on here about parents who are glad to get their kids from school or keep them home to start with when sick.

Actually, I have several parents that are glad I'm sending their kiddos home. But those are the ones who follow the policies and who's kiddos I don't see on a regular basis. Also, most of my parents know that, if I'm personally calling them, then the complaint is most likely valid so they don't typically fuss about it. The parents that don't complain don't generate an annoyance on our end, thus there's no reason to vent about them which is most likely why you don't see any posts about parents being happy to pick their kiddos up.

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Do you guys ever have parents who are happy to pick up their sick kids?

When I was young, my Mom was so sweet about keeping us home or picking us up if we got sick at school.

I have never seen any post on here about parents who are glad to get their kids from school or keep them home to start with when sick.

Yes Kooky Korky. I have had parents who are only too eager to come get their little darlings. For the younger kids it was our policy to notify the parents if a child came twice in one day even if there was nothing clinically wrong with the child. I called one mom in just such a case and explained my assessment of why the child was fine. Mom insisted on coming and getting him even after I was clear that it would count as an unexcused absence as I was not sending him home. Turns out they had friends staying with them and he just wanted to go home and play with them- got this info from the mother herself when she came to pick him up!

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I'm glad to see that there are some parents who are glad to get their sick kids from school or keep them home in the first place, and who don't give you guys any grief.

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Specializes in kids.
I'm glad to see that there are some parents who are glad to get their sick kids from school or keep them home in the first place, and who don't give you guys any grief.

Most of my parent are awesome! But there are those that cant be reached, ever grrrr... and those that will show up if they have a missed call on their phone...

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Specializes in School Nurse. Having conversations with littles..

With...ESPECIALLY little ones...even with no fever and who just can't function in the normal school day activities. It is usually how I choose my words on the phone with mom/gma/dad/whoever---- I just explain...(whatever the background information is)...but he/she isn't able to do xyz with the rest of the class. I think since he/she is only ___ years old. He/she would be much better off at home resting on the couch for the day to give their little body time to rest and recoup.

I think it is my "Granny" card (voice/heart) that I play at that point.

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