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Discussion

Berated by parent

Situation:

Student with a permanent medical diagnosis in need of assistance with pain management initially came to the medical room for help last semester in pain. At the time, found that student was allowed to carry oxycodone by parent to take while in school. No orders for pain medication. Discussed the danger of this practice with parent and requested orders for pain medication, inhalers and accommodations (heating pads, rest, etc). Forms sent. Alerted Principal of the situation.

Fast forward to March and no orders received although requested frequently. Student now no longer comes to the medical room for assistance. Some forms eventually received but are incomplete. Missing parts of the order like, Provider signature. Communicated this to parent and eventually was able to get SOME orders directly from the provider. No medication sent in with orders.

Presently, Monday's scheduled class trip is out of state and overnight, I have no medication, still need one med order (Emergency med) and teachers report student was out ill for several days. (d/t pain?)

Requested previous medication, missing order & provider clearance (d/t diagnosis) from parent for student to attend trip OR chaperone. Parent called to yell, berate and insult me yesterday and today has continued to do the same also talking to other teachers on campus. Administration was made aware and although seemingly in agreement has played good cop. They are also busy with graduation details.

Yesterday I did well and was professional and courteous but firm. Today, professional but very down. Why do some people think its ok to talk to Nurses this way? I am only trying to assist the student and uphold the law and our medical standards.

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    • Author

    Update:

    Parent notified administration that they will "not be bringing their children back to this school next year".

    Physician order forms submitted for every daily med the kid takes due to trip being overnight. Effective by dates written incorrectly. Faxed to Provider for correction. Just got the forms back corrected. No medication on hand. Information forwarded to the VP who will be attending said trip.

    Today is the last day I will be reviewing medical forms or medication for students going on the trip. Notified administration to that effect prior to today of course. In my opinion the parents were non compliant to my requests and the child should not go but I doubt that administration will prevent her from going.

    I have prepared a packet of her medical forms, clearance and diagnosis info her parents forwarded to me. I included how to keep narcotics and a medication log/count for the VP to log, however....I havent seen the meds.

    I am unsure of how to proceed besides sending an email informing them of my opinion that she should not be able to attend due to parent non-compliance in presenting medication for review by the due date.

    In order to protect myself/license....should I do more?

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    • Expert
    15 minutes ago, RNTadaaaa said:

    Update:

    Parent notified administration that they will "not be bringing their children back to this school next year".

    ?

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    28 minutes ago, RNTadaaaa said:

    Update:

    Parent notified administration that they will "not be bringing their children back to this school next year".

    ??

    Ha!! I'll believe it when records are requested for another school!!!! They may home school till about November, then re-enter with the caveat the child is not allowed to see the nurse but just call the parent if they need to be dismissed!!!

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    • Expert

    Yup.

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    • Expert

    Kind of makes one wonder what is the parent behavior at home with regards to use of narcotics. Would not be surprised if the child has parent behavior to mimic. Certainly she is aware of the contention between school and her parents regarding this issue. Creating the illusion if one does not want to abide by the rules all one has to do is to ignore them or complain loud and often.

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    58 minutes ago, RNTadaaaa said:

    Parent notified administration that they will "not be bringing their children back to this school next year".

    K. Bye, Felicia.

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    1 hour ago, RNTadaaaa said:

    Update:

    Parent notified administration that they will "not be bringing their children back to this school next year".

    Physician order forms submitted for every daily med the kid takes due to trip being overnight. Effective by dates written incorrectly. Faxed to Provider for correction. Just got the forms back corrected. No medication on hand. Information forwarded to the VP who will be attending said trip.

    Today is the last day I will be reviewing medical forms or medication for students going on the trip. Notified administration to that effect prior to today of course. In my opinion the parents were non compliant to my requests and the child should not go but I doubt that administration will prevent her from going.

    I have prepared a packet of her medical forms, clearance and diagnosis info her parents forwarded to me. I included how to keep narcotics and a medication log/count for the VP to log, however....I havent seen the meds.

    I am unsure of how to proceed besides sending an email informing them of my opinion that she should not be able to attend due to parent non-compliance in presenting medication for review by the due date.

    In order to protect myself/license....should I do more?

    Be careful of sharing your opinion on email.

    You have delegated medication administration to a staff member and have trained them, yes? You have no meds. Write on the form "No meds checked in." Tell the delegee that s/he is welcome not to provide medication. Tell the chaperones what's going on. Reiterate your concerns about a student packing around opiate with street value.

    Half my delegees would give that med and half would refuse without complete info from me... So sorry!!

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    42 minutes ago, caliotter3 said:

    Kind of makes one wonder what is the parent behavior at home with regards to use of narcotics. Would not be surprised if the child has parent behavior to mimic. Certainly she is aware of the contention between school and her parents regarding this issue. Creating the illusion if one does not want to abide by the rules all one has to do is to ignore them or complain loud and often.

    It occurs to me.... a long time ago I had a parent who may have been using their kid's pain medication. It was always difficult to get a doctor's order and matching medication.

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    • Expert
    1 hour ago, ruby_jane said:

    It occurs to me.... a long time ago I had a parent who may have been using their kid's pain medication. It was always difficult to get a doctor's order and matching medication.

    I had a home care patient like this. Unfortunately, between two of the nurses on the case and the mother, it was hard to tell which, or how many, of all of them were stealing the controlled meds. And the teenager was left of center before marijuana use became legal. A hot mess it was.

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    • Author

    I want to thank each of you for the encouragement, advice and shared experiences. It has made a discouraging day better.

    Next week is the last week of school! ??‍♀️??

    Ruby I will be careful not to share my opinions on email. Just the facts.

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    It's threads like this that make me glad that I am not a school nurse. I enjoy reading in your wonderful forum, but gee whiz! A K - 8 student carrying around narcotics?? That's so wrong on so many levels. I'd be terrified of the possible fallout when something inevitably goes wrong.

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    • Expert
    On 5/24/2019 at 11:17 AM, BiscuitRN said:

    Or what happens when a pill gets innocently dropped and a kindergartner picks it up and thinks it's a tic tac? Is the school ready for that? What if the student innocently gives one to his friend who is complaining that he hurt his leg in gym class? What will the school tell those parents? Or what do we do when the child is having a really bad pain day and can't remember if he took a pill already. He takes a few too many and an ambulance must be called. Who is liable? The school! The administration! What's the plan then?

    We've had 2 incidents this year where students have been found carrying controlled medications. I've had to have this talk many times with adults who just didn't get it.

    What came of those talks?

    I don't understand why Admin, both Principal and Nursing, don't lay down the law, suspend, etc.

    And why, RNTaadaa, does the parent get away with rudeness toward you?

    You (RNTaadaa) had better be documenting the living daylights out of this mess.

    And don't go gentle into that good night. Make your boss and the Principal both give you a written reply. Remind them of the liability the school has if any of the scenarios mentioned in this thread happen. And let them know that you have done everything in your power to avert such tragedies.

    You had better talk to a couple of lawyers about your own liability, especially if you aren't really holding your bosses' feet to the fire. I don't know how many written notices you have sent to the parent and to your boss and to the Principal, but you had better do it today.

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