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 have a standing request for all my staff not to throw out things like basketball type shorts, sweats, unisex looking t-shirts and their kid's underwear. We all have a laugh that my request for used undies is odd when taken out of context but seriously - i never get those back. The shorts and sweats and shirts sometimes re-appear (and i'm not talking about just on the backs of student's walking down the hall!)
If i get an over abundance - which usually doesn't happen - and i can't store it all i'll sort through and donate what i can't really use. But not undies - i go through those like water!
not a school nurse but happened to come across this. the hospital I work at carries individually wrapped disposable underpants. they're some combo of cheap cotton and something super stretchy so you can pretty much give them to your 96 y/o LOL or the obese man next door. maybe they come in pediatric
I actually just ordered these for next school year - Macgill stock them at $0.80 each. I was buying underwear, which was more expensive. Now, I do deal with older kiddos - MS and HS, but period accidents had me go through 30+ pairs of underwear this year.
Specializes in med-surg, IMC, school nursing, NICU.
I know I am late to this thread, but I was wondering if any of my fellow K-5 nurses call home for every accident. I see about 5+ a day lately and calling home just doesn't seem practical. I sent a note home and for 99% of parents that's ok. I got a note from an irate dad today about how I gave his child "someone else's used underwear" when he had clothing of his own in his classroom and why wasn't he called? The underwear was brand new, I took the sticker off because I gave it to the kiddo (but dad didn't know that). He came from the gym so his classroom teacher wasn't aware and thus unable to send his spare clothes with him. I don't typically call home for bathroom accidents unless the child is complaining of a related symptom (burning on urination, frequency, abdominal pain or diarrhea) but I wanted to know how everybody else handles it.
Specializes in med-surg, IMC, school nursing, NICU.
Thankfully, I have only had this once in two years. Called mom for clean clothes. We encourage a change left at school, but most don't.
Same here, I always ask for parents to leave some at school but I would say about half do, maybe less. We have a pretty decent supply of loaner clothes here so I haven't had to buy anything other than undies since I started. My parents are typically good at returned laundered clothes.
I know I am late to this thread, but I was wondering if any of my fellow K-5 nurses call home for every accident. I see about 5+ a day lately and calling home just doesn't seem practical. I sent a note home and for 99% of parents that's ok. I got a note from an irate dad today about how I gave his child "someone else's used underwear" when he had clothing of his own in his classroom and why wasn't he called? The underwear was brand new, I took the sticker off because I gave it to the kiddo (but dad didn't know that). He came from the gym so his classroom teacher wasn't aware and thus unable to send his spare clothes with him. I don't typically call home for bathroom accidents unless the child is complaining of a related symptom (burning on urination, frequency, abdominal pain or diarrhea) but I wanted to know how everybody else handles it.
I don't call parents but I do send a quick email - "wet/dirty clothing in backpack - please pack fresh clothing in case of future accidents". If parents want details they will call me. Only time I call parents now is if I need clothing or if the kid is poopy and needs to be cleaned/showered.
I call if I need clothes or if it happens regularly. Otherwise they get a note home with their clothes for washing. The note says to please return any clothing that was borrowed (except for the underwear) and asks them to please keep a bag with an extra set of clothes for their child in their backpack for future use if needed. Remember there are some parents you will never be able to keep happy and that's ok. You didn't leave this child in wet or soiled clothes all day-in my book that's what really matters. Some parents who send in notes about how irate they are about feeding their child lunch when they forgot(we have no food service) or giving them a jacket to wear when it's cold out, etc. I just want to send their nasty note back with a big "You're welcome" on it. Some people are just ungrateful and it makes me crazy!
I don't call unless the student comes in often and parents have not informed me of any urological problems. When I have parent who gets upset because I did not call them over something that was not urgent, I call them every time their child comes to the clinic.
I've been a school nurse for awhile, but this is my first year at elementary. I have issues with school staff who have dropped off toileting accidents when I have kids who are injured or ill and need constant supervision. Legally, I have issue with being expected to leave those kids to tackle bathroom issues. I won't do it. I will inconvenience the parents every time if I can get them on the phone.
Flare, ASN, BSN
4,431 Posts
I have a standing request for all my staff not to throw out things like basketball type shorts, sweats, unisex looking t-shirts and their kid's underwear. We all have a laugh that my request for used undies is odd when taken out of context but seriously - i never get those back. The shorts and sweats and shirts sometimes re-appear (and i'm not talking about just on the backs of student's walking down the hall!)
If i get an over abundance - which usually doesn't happen - and i can't store it all i'll sort through and donate what i can't really use. But not undies - i go through those like water!