Bedbugs?

[Supernrse01, BSN]

My Assistant Nurse just called me to let me know her teachers are all in an uproar and panic because a student announced that he has bedbugs at home and that he and his mom have the same red bites on their foreheads. This of course has prompted an all out freak out amongst the staff, and while my colleague is attempting to calm everyone down, she s being met with questions about policies and procedures R/T these little critters. Truth be told, we do not have a policy for Bedbugs. Does your school?

I'm honestly not sure what the policy would be, or how we would even enforce it. It's not like they would be easily found in the middle of the school day, unless we found them on a backpack or in the crease of a book or something, plus we don't even know if the bedbugs actually exist in the home.

[schooldistrictnurse]

1. Involve your counselor or social worker to see if the family needs guidance to have their home treated ( it is the responsibility of the landlord if they are renters)

2. Obtain and provide containers with tight fitting covers for the student to keep their backpack and jacket in during the school day, and if possible, provide another container for the child to do the same at home. They should keep the container and contents away from sleeping areas

3. You may see a random bug at school, but it would not be a preferred place for them to "move in" since they like to feed on stationery bodies, with a night-time preference.

4. Your school may experience an "exposure," not an "infestation."

5. More guidance can be obtained from your district's pest-control company. (Yes, you probably have one contracted)

[Supernrse01, BSN]

Thank you, Schooldistrictnurse. I was able to find a policy for another school within our State, although nor close to us at all. Hopefully exposure is where we will stay!! (And we do have a contracted pest control company!)

[Wave Watcher]

Bedbugs are a pest issue not a nursing issue. Our school has a pest policy. Only if a bedbug is found inside a classroom will the room be treated with any type of pesticide.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

i get students sent down to me regularly with bites that teachers expect me to identify genus and species just by the bite pattern. I gently remind then that I'm not qualified to make such a call as to what caused the bite. I can understand the ick factor, especially when it comes to bed bugs. Wave watcher is right though - it is not necessarily your place to enact a pest policy based on a statement made by a student. That sounds like a call someone making the big buck$ should be making. In reality, to treat the school properly would mean calling in a high priced exterminator and quite possibly closing the school. These are decisions that need to be made with care and i would think have documentation.

[Supernrse01, BSN]

Completely agree, Flare! I called the Superintendent immediately and she confirmed that we don't really have a policy for something like this, basically because it has never been an issue, plus we only have the words of the student to go on.

[100kids, BSN, RN]

i get students sent down to me regularly with bites that teachers expect me to identify genus and species just by the bite pattern.

I'm amazed sometimes at what people think we should just know as well as being able to diagnose and treat

[amnesiac1c]

Did anyone talk to the parent? One of my teachers jokingly told her own son his bug bite was probably bedbugs & of course he repeated that as fact to his teacher & paranoia ensued. Maybe just a misunderstanding, yk? I've also had something similar happen with students living in a home with fleas.

[Supernrse01, BSN]

My assistant nurse was attempting to get in contact with the parent that day. We felt that it might have been a misunderstanding or exactly what you said, a kid repeating something that was meant to be a joke!