A student was sent to me with a pass that said "congestion" The student is a 5th grader that is well known to me. He strolls into the clinic smiling and laughing with another student. First impression, he seems fine with a little nasal congestion, temp 98.1. In my judgement, he was fine and I sent him back to class. Fast Forward two days, a teacher comes to me and said she received an email from this student's mother complaining about me. The email said that if her son asks to go to the nurse again that she needs to be called. She went on to say that apparently that nurse is incompetent and I don't want my child sent to her. This email was sent as a group message to all the child's teachers and the administrators. (not me)
As a school nurse, I have come to expect this behavior from a few parents every year but my problem is that this parent is a school nurse at the school down the street. She is a colleague for the same school district. I have covered her school before as she also covers mine when I'm out.
I just don't get it, why didn't she talk to me about this before she complained to everyone I work with?
She knows this job and knows the district guidelines we use to determine if a parent call is warranted. I treat every student the same. Just because a student's parent works in the school district does not mean I give them special treatment. The more I think about it the more angry I become.
I have mentioned this incident to the nursing director and she told me that this nurse is under a lot of stress right now and to let it go. She also said that if this was a valid complaint against me that she would have been notified about it from the school administrators.
We all have stress in our lives and everyone deals with it differently but I feel this is a personal attack on my nursing skills and judgement. Am I justified in feeling this way? I feel like this is something that I need to address with her on a personal basis. The more I think about it, the madder I become. What do you guys think.
Yep, lame. No amount of stress is an excuse for such poor personal conduct.
If you know her personally I say go for it, if you don't know her personally (i.e., by reputation only) then blow it off because I can't see it ending well.
That's really horrible. I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that. Life is hard enough without a personal beat down on your nursing competency without opportunity to defend yourself. It's not even like you dropped the ball here.
I'd also love to know where else they will get another school nurse to assess her precious little snowflake next time he has a paper cut and needs emergency trauma care if Princess Nurse doesn't want you to take care of her child? Do y'all grow school nurses on trees for such an occasion at your school?
I was wondering the same thing but haven't had time to dig up this post today. SNAP is being sooooooo slooooooooowww for me today.
Inquiring (nosy) minds want to know, what happened?
Thank you for all your input and advice on this matter, I am truly grateful.
This nurse is seriously experiencing mental issues...
So after a relaxing spring break, I approached this nurse in a non-confrontational and very polite way (with a non-partial witness) and asked her about the comment made about her son's visit to my clinic. She said, "I don't have any issues with my child's treatment by you. I have no idea what your talking about." I was like... oh, okay it was brought up that you had concerns about his treatment and I wanted to talk to you about these concerns and clear up any misunderstandings.
Thinking maybe the teacher (that originally told me about this) was playing a sick joke on me or seriously confused, I told her what she said. The teacher showed me the email and there is no mistaking her accusations about me to the people listed to receive that message. (I asked her to forward to email to me but she wouldn't because she didn't want to be accused of sharing any information behind the parents back) I will let it go at this point because bringing this up again seems confrontational and won't solve anything.
So anyways..... as a school nurse colleague she has burned any bridges with me. Although, I do hope she seeks treatment for any deep emotional problems that she is experiencing, I will not be put in any situations where she will be able to repeat this attack on me without a witness present. I told each teacher to follow her wishes in the email and contact her with ANY medical issues from this point on.
Obviously this kid did not go home to his mother the same way he came to you so I wonder what complete fabrication was given to her by this child, as evidenced by her extreme reaction toward you. I might approach her with that thought in mind about her unprofessional behavior.
3ringnursing, BSN
543 Posts
Yep, lame. No amount of stress is an excuse for such poor personal conduct.
If you know her personally I say go for it, if you don't know her personally (i.e., by reputation only) then blow it off because I can't see it ending well.
That's really horrible. I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve that. Life is hard enough without a personal beat down on your nursing competency without opportunity to defend yourself. It's not even like you dropped the ball here.
I'd also love to know where else they will get another school nurse to assess her precious little snowflake next time he has a paper cut and needs emergency trauma care if Princess Nurse doesn't want you to take care of her child? Do y'all grow school nurses on trees for such an occasion at your school?