Bed bug bites vs flea

Specialties School

Published

Here's my frustration .kids get sent to school with bites...are are we supposed to be able to distinguish from bed bug bites and flea bites... those are the ones we get.mostly. we don't send them home, I just feel like I struggle with that.

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Specializes in School health, pediatrics.

I know that bed bugs bit in lines, so you'll get a little line of like 3+ bites in a row. But since we do not diagnose, I would say that no, we are not obligated to distinguish between any bug bites.

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No, I don't have to distinguish (the doctor can : - ))

I don't exclude for either- unless a bug is crawling on their person or personal belongings.

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Specializes in NCSN.

You aren't responsible for diagnosing, but I'm sure your staff wishes you were.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

i tell them that straight up. I am not an expert in entomology. i can't diagnose a bug bite.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Gastroenterology, School Nrs.

I do not diagnose or try to distinguish the difference in bites. I pulled an image comparing the two for a teacher once, so that she could fully understand just how identical some can be.

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This is another instance of my educator colleagues being positively perplexed that I am not an expert in every single medical specialty. I've tried the analogy of asking a kindergarten teacher to teach a high school math class but the belief that I hold all the medical knowledge persists.

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Specializes in School Nursing.
i tell them that straight up. I am not an expert in entomology. i can't diagnose a bug bite.

"We found this little bug can you tell us what it is?"

:bored: :bored: :bored:

I vividly remember, that when my husband had Valentine's flowers delivered to me in my second month of working at my school, and the ladies in the office called to tell me "we have something for you in the office," I was SURE without a doubt it would be a bug for me to identify :lol2:

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You don't know how comforting this is..it makes me feel less like a complete idiot. I pride myself on not diagnosing and making it very clear that I can't.. and yet they still bring me in.. to distinguish.. today it just really annoyed me and made me doubt everything.. they wanted to know if we needed to develop a plan...I just get so confused.its my license and they don't understand.

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Specializes in School nurse.

My mantra to faculty and family is "I'm not a dermatologist" and "I do not diagnose". Your admin wants a plan? You notify the health department if you have a dx of varicella, measles etc. based on state reporting requirements. If in your assessment you think a child should be referred, you refer them and get a dx. That's the plan. Document what you see and monitor for things that may lead to a call to child services (nasty environment not taken care of etc).nowhere in the plan should you be responsible for what you think "it" is.

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