I have been looking at posts on this forum since the start of the school year and I love the advice and laughs I get from all of you! I finally decided to ask a question. I am sure I will ask plenty more, but this one is the most relevant to me right now-
When a student presents with a sore throat and the throat appears WNL except for one white patch on a tonsil with NO OTHER SYMPTOMS, what is your course of action?
I rarely look at throats anymore - student gets a salt water gargle and I will call parent to to let them know. Ears - I will take a peek but I am not confident in my skill Unless the area is flaming red, bulging etc I have no idea if its an infection - again I will contact parent just to give them a heads up and will tell parents I am not sure if anything is going on but child is complaining.
If there's no fever and the child doesn't appear sick, they head back to class. I do look at throats, although it doesn't really matter what I think; it's what the throat culture says that counts. I have seen feverish kids with nasty throats who had neg tc, and afebrile kids whose throats really didn't look all that bad, maybe a few petechiae or some swelling, who did test positive. I don't contact parents for mild redness but do if there is pus or the child looks sick.
I had strep last week. My throat was slightly red and tonsils were swollen but I had severe pain swallowing. I will call parents if I can see the kid is in pain and has a hard time talking.
Unless the area is flaming red, bulging etc I have no idea if its an infection - again I will contact parent just to give them a heads up and will tell parents I am not sure if anything is going on but child is complaining.
MrNurse(x2), ADN
2,558 Posts
I won't judge.