Calling parents

[peacockblue]

Ok, so this afternoon my principal stops in and tells that I need to call every parent for anything besides a bandaid. He asked how I made a decision as to who to call. I replied, "nursing judgment". He said parents want to be kept in the loop more and I am to call for all but the most minor things. Apparently my five years of college and 30+ years of experience no longer matter. It just seems that the longer I do this, the less parents trust me. Not just me but the teachers too, and the schools in general. You want called at work every time your kid asks for a TUMS after lunch, sure, I can so that. Oh, and I am in high school, not elementary. Now of course I will follow the directive I was given, but really? Not sure if this post is more of a rant or a question, but is anyone else dealing with this type of thing?

[nursetlm, ADN]

Oh heck no!!

I work k-3 and I only call for pertinent issues. I would be calling 20 parents a day alone for scrapes to elbows and knees. You need to fight this.

[khaley69]

I say call for every single time after a while parents will get sick and tried of you calling and ask you not to call anymore!!

[BagelBomber, ASN, BSN, RN]

and i'm positive that your child's school nurse really doesn't want to make 65 calls a day except now has to because some helicopter mama bear didn't get a call because David came to complain about the same sore throat he's had for 3 days. (that mom has already treated.) A waste of time is had by all, but David's mom can rest easy knowing that she will get a call for every owie, boo boo, and paper cut

Yes, yes and yes! The looks I get on the playground when I tell my kid to just brush it off and keep playing tell me all I need to know about the majority of parents with kids in his school. I've even had the principal call because my kid didn't go to the nurse for a scraped knee (I had sent Band-Aids to try to give the poor nurse a break)- "Please have a talk with him about seeing the nurse for these issues so they can be properly documented" **insert eyeroll here**

[OldDude]

I say call for every single time after a while parents will get sick and tried of you calling and ask you not to call anymore!!

This caused me to think of something...maybe you could have technology put out a robo-call from the school nurse every morning asking parents to keep their phones handy and accessible in case you need to notify them of their child visiting the school clinic that day. Make the zillion calls during the day and then another robo-call that evening reminding parents to check their voice mails in case they missed a call from the school nurse advising them of their child visiting the clinic that day. See who blinks first...

[caliotter3]

And to think, daughter wasn't informed at all about her son's final IEP meeting. When she found out about it after the fact, she was told "he turned 18, we didn't have to inform you". So a request for a tums would warrant a call from the school nurse, but the IEP meeting, supposedly the purview of the "educators", was not necessary. Makes a lot of sense.

[halohg, RN]

I'd also start to bill them for overtime hours...money talks if the number don't

[osceteacher]

I always have that fear when the phone rings or the teacher calls me over then they say "Little **** banged his knee and he has a plaster". Thanks, like it really matters, he always has a plaster on somewhere. We live in a world with helicopter parents who need to circle their children everywhere and wrap them in cotton wool and everyone's a potential paedo.

[LilyRN99]

I think I would do the same.

[BeckyESRN]

I had a mom upset that I didn't call her on Monday because today, Thursday, her precious was diagnosed with strep. She said that she expects a call anytime her child is seen, so I told her that I would have called 68 times this year and those are only the visits that I've charted(I may have missed some). :)

[Amethya]

Oh, I had this issue. So I harassed the crap out of parents for the sake of them knowing their kid came a lot in my office and to piss them off enough to tell my principal for me to stop calling. So now I only call for parents who kids are actually in my office for something, but things like bandaids and small things I can fix up, I don't.

It's a win-win for me.

I know your struggle.

[KeeperOfTheIceRN, ADN]

I wonder how many parents you'll annoy before they start complaining they're being called for stupid reasons....I give it a week, and your admin will be telling you to stop because they're tired of getting phone calls from annoyed parents. I'd even go as far as telling parents when I call "Hello Mr./Mrs. Parental Unit, This is Nurse Keeper. I'm calling today because we've implemented a new policy that requires me to call every time a child visits my office and your LD is here right now for a bandaid because they scraped their knee with a pencil. Is there anything else you'd like me to do?" that way they know it wasn't your decision to call in the first place....

what a dumb requirement

[NurseBlaq]

UGH. That is rant worthy! I work MS and HS and calls are for legit things - I don't bother parents for minor issues and thankfully most (because we all I know I still have a list of some parents to call for everything) like it that way. They trust me to take care of their child while their child is in school. I don't make many phone calls and when I do, they are longer and I log them. But part of my mission with HS kids to is help them be ready to take responsibility of their health by the time they graduate.

But perhaps you can have a handy note system - I do have those as well, "your child was seen in the nurse's office note." I used it more when I worked elementary.

As a parent to elementary and high school boys, the notes are the best unless it's something major. I appreciated the school nurses for not calling me to tell me minute things, especially if you panic when you receive a call from the school only to find out they could have sent a note home.

OP should create a template for school nurse visits and tweak as needed with extra notes as necessary. Tell the principal knows nothing about nursing and is not realistic in his/her expectations.