Do any of you have this issue? This is my first year as a school nurse, and I find my clinic is the default dumping ground for the kids that get kicked out of class. In fact, I'm often the one the teachers call to come remove the child from the room when the administrators are 'busy' doing other things.
I'm told to 'call mom/dad/whoever to come pick him up'... and more often then not, it takes hours to get someone on the phone, and even if they say they're coming, nobody shows until the end of the day. This means I get to babysit (these are kids that wont sit and wait, they are the kids that are ripping things off the walls, hitting other kids, or doing something else equally destructive, and have to be watched and contained closely.) This becomes especially tricky when I have a student come into the clinic with a fever or other complaint and I can't take my eyes off of the behavior issue for even a second (or he's running out the door, or getting into expensive medical equipment).
Because these students usually have an "ADHD" diagnosis- everyone thinks it's my responsibility when the medications aren't working! I literally had a teacher bring a student into my office and say, "He needs to stay in here for 30 minutes until his meds kick in (she had sent him to me earlier that day, 45 minutes too early for his medication. I had just given him his dose 5 minutes prior to her dumping him on me saying he needed to stay with me until it 'kicked' in). I arranged it to where I give this kid both his qam and lunchtime dose of medication so that we KNOW he is getting his meds every day. I really don't think it should be my responsibility that the drugs aren't producing the results they want. ADHD meds aren't a cure for an child who has zero respect for school authorities and rules.
I don't mind helping with these kids, but at what point would you tell the administrators "no". I would like to keep my job.
