A Scratch...

Specialties School

Published

I have to vent a little... I had a parent call me today angry that I did not call her yesterday when her child got a scratch on the playground. The child came into the office after it happened. It was not even bleeding but I cleaned it and bandaged it and sent her on her way. I have atleast 20 plus kids that I do this for on a daily basis. Never did I ever think this one was any different than any other. Mom said when the child got home she saw the scratch and immediately took her to the doctor for a tetnus and evaluation. When she got there the nurses told her that was not neccisary that her shots were all up to date and the child was fine!!! DUH!!!! Mom said from now on that I am to call her anytime her child comes in my office. I replied, "every little scratch?" Mother said yes. I'm having a hard time swallowing this one! She said because I did not contact her she drove all the way to the doctor for nothing. Am I out of line here? Do you all call parents for scratches??

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Specializes in LTC.

That parent is just so rude, ignorant, and flat out crazy. It is impossible to call for every little scratch ! The only time I call is if the scratch is somewhere on the face, some times I don't even call for that I'll just send a note.

I had a parent let me have it for not calling for something minor, minor injury.

I just simply told her that based on my observation the injury did not need a call home. However, for now on I do call her for every little thing. Soon she'll get tired of you calling.

Some parents just get me, they want us to call if there kids shoe laces are untied !

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Specializes in School Nursing.

No way! And further, I would not agree to call this parent every time the child comes into the office. That is setting a precedence that does not need to be set. I would inform the parent that you notify parents of any injury or illness that would require follow up or monitoring. Otherwise, your workload will not allow you to notify the parents of children with very minor injuries. Be sure to have your principal's and health services department's backup on this. There is NO WAY I am calling parents for a scratch! When you see 20-40 kids per day, you would be calling parents until 7pm if you had to call for every scratch. That is simply ridiculous!

OK, well, let me ammend that. Any injury on the face, even a tiny scratch, I call home. Because it's the kid's face, and if I were the parent I would want to know. But otherwise NO WAY I am calling parents for a scratch.

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Specializes in med surg, geriatrics, peds.

No way do I call home for scratches. If you are like me, when you do call home they do not want to hear what you say. I have had parents like this and I did call every time that student came to my office, mom got tired after about 2 days of me calling 6-7 times a day. She apologized and then asked that I use my judgement and call only when necessary.

Good luck with this parent!

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Your right. I should have said that to her. I don't think of good things to say until after the conversation is over and I've thought about it! I need to talk to our principal about this and see what she wants me to do for sure. Part of my job is descerning the severity of their condition and if it warrants further evaluation. I get so tired of pettyness.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

facial scratches, yes......otherwise no. sometimes parents can be overbearing and unreasonable. just keep on keepin' on !:specs:

praiser :heartbeat

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Specializes in school nursing.

If you ask me, these kids are out of control with wanting ice and band-aids for microscopic injuries. I have 6-8 graders and they will whine and come to the office 4 times a day for a paper cut or chapped lips.

As a nurse and an educator, I feel I do these kids a disservice by babying them. I try to teach the proper use of the clinic as well as proper use of band-aids, ice, etc. It seems like an uphill battle with parents and staff, though!

I want my students to be proactive and responsible for their own health. This is my job! I do not want to see a generation of people who miss tons of work and cannot be a contributing member to society (not to mention frequent unnecessary ER visits) because they have chronic paper cut syndrome!

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Specializes in School Nursing.

do what i do.......the old "wet paper towel" routine. it cure's all ill's. it's better than medicine ! (of course, i have elementary kids) most of the time, the injury does not call for ice anyway.

yes, we are raising a generation of wimps! :crying2:

praiser :heartbeat

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I would make sure that I put her on my "call EVERY visit list" and hope that she started visiting ALOT! hahaha You did NOTHING wrong, some people can't be pleased!!! Don't let it bother you, hard to do sometimes, but I am learning to!

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Specializes in school nursing.

"You can please some of the people some of the time but not all of the people all of the time"

I rely on my nursing judgement, the nurse practice act, and my facilities policy and procedures. If you do that.........you are good!

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I had to do this for a parent once. When the child had visited 20+ times in one week for chapped lips, lotion, paper cuts, etc, the mom was shocked that I was calling her so much. She told me she could not get her work done because I was calling her constantly. I told her I would either call her every time the child visited or she could trust my judgment. She ended up yelling at the child, and after that I saw a lot less of him.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

When I get a parent that wants a call everytime I am usually more than happy to put their child on that list. Then they do get a call for each and every little thing that the child comes to the office with. It usually doesn't take too long fot the parent to get annoyed with the constant calls and ask me to stop calling.

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