Bad week

[MrNurse(x2)]

I have had it with stupid visits. I can think of a handful of times in my youth that I stopped playing to address an injury or apply ice, and every one was outside of school. I took aspirin (preTylenol era child) maybe one handful of times, I visited the nurse once for a nail in my foot, not something I really could have ignored. We are raising little drug addicts before our eyes. I paused when my "migraine" sufferer came in for his daily Tylenol smiling away telling me he had a headache and decided that teaching was in order. I had the Tylenol out to show him that I would give it, but I educated him that all medications have side effects and risks, that a little pain is OK. He chose to wait it out and see if lunch helped. My boys rarely get motrin for pain, my youngest took four Lortabs after DC from the hospital for a pretty big degloving of his leg. Life has pain, why can't parents be comfortable telling their children that?

[CampyCamp, RN]

20 hours ago, kunaspud said:

Does anyone have any suggestions for yucky antacids. The district provides lovely fruit flavored ones and I am definitely up for nasty tasting! Especially for FF.

Medique and Medifirst make dose packet antacids that do have orange or mint flavor but look disgusting (two grayish white small tablets per pack) and have a crunch that I can't even be near the kids for. I bring my own for myself or I suffer rather than try those!

[TriciaJ, RN]

My dad always used to tell us: "Don't worry. It'll stop hurting when the pain goes away." And it usually did.

[SaltineQueen]

Me: When did your head/stomach/other part start hurting?

Snowflake: Just now.

Me: ?

[kidzcare]

13 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

My dad always used to tell us: "Don't worry. It'll stop hurting when the pain goes away." And it usually did.

All bleeding stops... eventually.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

On 2/28/2019 at 1:42 PM, Eleven011 said:

I order a supply of the single use packets of yummy berry lip balm each fall and I guess they became very popular this year because I just ran out. I am now offering up vasoline on a qtip. You'd think I switched out their charmin for sandpaper!

You did. But I always say....if you don't like what I have to give you then bring yours from home tomorrow.

[jnemartin, BSN, RN]

I have been feeling this SO MUCH lately! I even had to have a special meeting with the principals on Friday to express my concerns that the students are visiting my office so frequently for completely unnecessary things.

Some things I've tried: (1) educating the students about appropriate use of class time (not effective), (2) what type of symptoms I can help with and which typically go away "on their own" (not effective), (3) telling students to come back later if the symptoms don't resolve (this is 50/50 effective), (4) refilling the classroom first aid kits and having a 1-on-1 convo with each teacher about what the kit can be used for (not effective); (5) emailing parents and advisor when a student comes 2+ times per week, with exception of for tampons or cough drops, (somewhat effective).

Things I'm going to start trying: (1) education to teachers during professional development day RE what to send to the nurse, (2) sending kids immediately back to class for an unnecessary visit, and emailing the teacher to let them know, (3) sending out a Nurse Visit Guidelines Email, as many of us have discussed here over the years. (This is my first year as SN)

I KNOW THIS ALL SOUNDS HARSH, but I see 30 students daily in a school of about 200. The kids have a combination of no critical thinking skills, the desire escape class early and often, and teachers who are too busy to triage. I'll let you know how it all goes!

[CampyCamp, RN]

5 hours ago, SaltineQueen said:

Me: When did your head/stomach/other part start hurting?

Snowflake: Just now.

Me: ?

ALL. THE. TIME. I put on my patient pants and voice and go through "Ohhh, what did you do in between it starting to hurt and coming here?" "?" "Did you rest your head? Have a drink? Wait 5 minutes to see if it would go away? Go to the bathroom?" "nooo..." (fake-enthusiastically) "OK! We'll do those things now and next time you know what to do!"

Rinse and repeat next time. ?

[tining, BSN, RN]

14 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

My dad always used to tell us: "Don't worry. It'll stop hurting when the pain goes away." And it usually did.

That is exactly what I say. My school nurse joke - mostly for myself since I get the deer in headlights when I say it.

[tining, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, jnemartin said:

I KNOW THIS ALL SOUNDS HARSH, but I see 30 students daily in a school of about 200. The kids have a combination of no critical thinking skills, the desire escape class early and often, and teachers who are too busy to triage. I'll let you know how it all goes!

OMG - I see 30 out of 1500.

Get harsh.

I do a LOT of teaching. Surprisingly, most of the kids are grateful for the info.

["nursy", RN]

I agree things are certainly different than when I was a kid....60 kids in a classroom with a nun. Definitely no school nurse. Somehow we made it through. So it's easy to judge all our little snowflakes. However, every day I hear stories of the student who doesn't have hot water at home, the ones whose parents won't even buy them chap stick cuz they have no money, over and over the grandma whose taking care of the kiddos cuz mom's on drugs, dad is not even in the picture, the stories are never ending. So you know what...my office may be one of the few places, where they can hear a kind word, get a little one-on-one attention, have a chance to decompress in a nonstressful environment, and just know that they are valued as a person. Do they need to come to me for a paper cut? Not really, but besides handing them the band aid I will tell them the importance of washing their hands. And maybe I'll tell them I like the cute saying on their t-shirt, or their hair looks cute today. I like seeing my students and developing a relationship, so that I can be a better judge of when their behavior changes from baseline. Or maybe one day they will trust me enough to confide that they are being abused, or suicidal, or struggling with gender identity. While it's true that coming to the nurse does detract from classroom time, if I can make them feel better (whether physically or emotionally) they will ultimately do better in the classroom.

[tining, BSN, RN]

???

[RatherBHiking, BSN, RN]

It's just part of school nursing I think. However, I have had kids worried that their stomachache is really something major. I see so many kids look relieved when I say oh you're ok, it's nothing major. I also say all the time, I get you don't feel good but you don't need to go home. There will be many days you don't feel all that great but you still have to carry on and today is one of those days. LOL! One teacher said, I don't know what you do, but they always come back with a smile. ? Sometimes they just need to know someone cares even if I didn't "do" anything.

We don't pass out any meds here unless the parent provides them with a dr's order. At first I was like how can we help these kids but now I'm glad because it cut down on many unnecessary visits.