Bathroom Accidents/Change of Clothes

Specialties School

Published

Happy Monday! Are you counting days til Summer? 3.5 days for me!

So, I have a question for those of you in elementary schools and how you handle potty accidents.

I am the lone nurse at our school and when our littles have pee and poop accidents the responsibility falls to me to handle the clean-up and change of these kids. I make a point, whenever humanly possible, to hand these kids a change of clothes & either send them to the restroom or give them privacy in my clinic closet to change. Then I always notify their parent of the situation via email and give details of how they were able to change/clean on their own.

BUT, often at the beginning of the school year, my K5 kids need significant help with changing and clean-up. Or there's a kid in the bathroom that needs me to come wipe their bottom. And there's this one kid in 1st grade that has ZERO modesty and before I can leave the closet he's porky pigging it right there. He's been doing that for 2 years now. I love him but I'm ALWAYS telling him, "wait til I get out, buddy!"

So, how do you guys handle these situations? Do you pull another staff or faculty in to witness? Do you insist a kid do this on their own without your help? How do you protect yourself?

I order disposable undies to keep in my office for girls who get surprised by their period but I've handed them out to kids who had a #2 accident as well.

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
I order disposable undies to keep in my office for girls who get surprised by their period but I've handed them out to kids who had a #2 accident as well.

Are disposable undies "pull ups" or something else?

Are disposable undies "pull ups" or something else?

*is intrigued as well*

Specializes in School Nursing, Telemetry.

The bathroom accidents are one of my biggest pet peeves! We DO have a fluctuating supply of clothing in the health room and I'm constantly bombarded with kids peeing their pants that need me to grapple through the supply to find the appropriate size pants. I keep trying to figure out where I can put all these darn clothes so they're out of the health room! I try to call parents as much as possible to bring in clothes, but often I have to choose between a kid in wet pants sitting in my office for who knows how long or me providing clothes. I encourage/beg parents to bring their own clothes, but it very rarely happens.

I generally do not help with clean-up. Usually, I hand kiddo clothes and send them into the bathroom in the hall; I will coach through the door if they need it. There are a handful of times when I've given hands on assistance--kiddo with scoliosis who has a body cast who has difficulty reaching when he has a bowel movement, and massive diarrhea blow-outs that are beyond a child's control and ability to self clean (I call a parent to come pick up in those cases but don't want to leave their kid a giant mess if that is the case). I will call parents to assist the child at times, too.

Hi, my name is Marcy and I live in Virginia. I have been a teacher and school nursing for about 10 years now and their are many things that you can do to help with these types of accidents. I worked in kindergarten ages and preschool ages too. I also had to work with toddlers where I changed lots and lots of diapers. In fact, most days I would change about 30 diapers a day. The first step that I would do would be to put on the latex gloves. Then, I would know where the change of clothes bin is located. Next, I would get a plastic bag or many plastic bags. I would have the child try to help themselves as much as possible. If they could not do a skill, I would show them on myself or show them by using a doll or a puppet. Finally, wash your hands and clean up. Some schools require that another adult be present with you, but the rule of thumb is to have all of the doors be open as much as possible. I hope this helps your situation. Good luck to you. Marcy

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
The bathroom accidents are one of my biggest pet peeves! We DO have a fluctuating supply of clothing in the health room and I'm constantly bombarded with kids peeing their pants that need me to grapple through the supply to find the appropriate size pants. I keep trying to figure out where I can put all these darn clothes so they're out of the health room! I try to call parents as much as possible to bring in clothes, but often I have to choose between a kid in wet pants sitting in my office for who knows how long or me providing clothes. I encourage/beg parents to bring their own clothes, but it very rarely happens.

I generally do not help with clean-up. Usually, I hand kiddo clothes and send them into the bathroom in the hall; I will coach through the door if they need it. There are a handful of times when I've given hands on assistance--kiddo with scoliosis who has a body cast who has difficulty reaching when he has a bowel movement, and massive diarrhea blow-outs that are beyond a child's control and ability to self clean (I call a parent to come pick up in those cases but don't want to leave their kid a giant mess if that is the case). I will call parents to assist the child at times, too.

When I started this job there was enough clothes piled around to open a used clothing retail outlet. I tried what you're talking about for a few years. What finally convinced me to stop was, I'd rifle around and through the clothes to finally find something that would reasonably fit the sweet pea and then they would say, "I DON'T LIKE THAT!" So, I'd end up calling the parent and relating the situation...I have something for them to wear but they don't like it. Nine times out of ten the parent would tell me to have them wait until they could bring clothes instead of tell the kid to put the clothes on and shut up. :banghead:

Specializes in Cardicac Neuro Telemetry.

TRUE STORY - happened last year at the local pediatric urgent care I work at.

MD writes an order for Tylenol suppository for an infant. Female Nurse, RN, goes into the room, parents present, explains the order and administers the medicine. A short time later two police officers arrive at the clinic and ask to speak with Female Nurse, RN. The parent of the infant Female Nurse gave the suppository to called 911 and alleged Female Nurse inappropriately inserted her finger into the infant's rectum AND did not wear gloves while administering the medicine.

So, insert your name instead of Female Nurse and imagine how that would make you feel. You are now guilty until you prove yourself innocent and, even then, the "stains" won't come out. It's mommy and daddy's word against your word. Throw in race differences and it adds another level of dynamics. What would you do? But by the Grace of God, Female Nurse, RN, picked up the paper towel, which she had laid out for the suppository and the foil lubricant packet, when she was done and threw it all away, inside her gloves as she removed them. She went into the trash can in the room, retrieved the gloves, which contained the Tylenol and lubricant wrappers inside, and showed the police officers. Fortunately that discredited the allegations of "sexual assault of a minor"" to the degree the police left it up to the parents to pursue on their own. Which they never did but I can imagine the sleepless nights Female Nurse, RN, went through.

At urgent care I always bring another nurse with me when I administer Tylenol suppositories. I always bring another nurse when I give gluteal injections. Or if I'm administering an enema, cath UAs, etc...sad but true.

I'm not a school nurse. I'm a BSN student nurse just lurking. Why on earth did those parents call the police? Assuming she adequately explained the procedure, there shouldn't have been an issue. I really do not understand. Were they just ignorant? Trouble makers? I'm curious to know.

Hi, my name is Marcy and I live in Virginia. I have been a teacher and school nursing for about 10 years now and their are many things that you can do to help with these types of accidents. I worked in kindergarten ages and preschool ages too. I also had to work with toddlers where I changed lots and lots of diapers. In fact, most days I would change about 30 diapers a day. The first step that I would do would be to put on the latex gloves. Then, I would know where the change of clothes bin is located. Next, I would get a plastic bag or many plastic bags. I would have the child try to help themselves as much as possible. If they could not do a skill, I would show them on myself or show them by using a doll or a puppet. Finally, wash your hands and clean up. Some schools require that another adult be present with you, but the rule of thumb is to have all of the doors be open as much as possible. I hope this helps your situation. Good luck to you. Marcy

Hi, Marcy.

Our schools are latex free, for the most part, due to allergies.

Also, we don't change diapers in school, so we don't have diapers or change of clothes bins, either.

Specializes in kids.
I'm not a school nurse. I'm a BSN student nurse just lurking. Why on earth did those parents call the police? Assuming she adequately explained the procedure, there shouldn't have been an issue. I really do not understand. Were they just ignorant? Trouble makers? I'm curious to know.

Looking for a payday...:no:

I'm not a school nurse. I'm a BSN student nurse just lurking. Why on earth did those parents call the police? Assuming she adequately explained the procedure, there shouldn't have been an issue. I really do not understand. Were they just ignorant? Trouble makers? I'm curious to know.

Oh, Irish_Mist. Peds is a whole 'nother ball of wax. Parents are craaaaaaaay sometimes. You'll see.

I could never do it.

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
I'm not a school nurse. I'm a BSN student nurse just lurking. Why on earth did those parents call the police? Assuming she adequately explained the procedure, there shouldn't have been an issue. I really do not understand. Were they just ignorant? Trouble makers? I'm curious to know.

God only knows why and I'm sure he was scratching his head. I used this as an example of how easy it is to place yourself in a situation that could ruin your career, and life in general, with only good and helpfullness being your intent.

Are disposable undies "pull ups" or something else?

They're individually wrapped, but I think they are mesh, similar to what they give women after giving birth.

+ Add a Comment