C'Mon Now!

kidzcare · Mar 7, 2019

1 hour ago, BiscuitRN said:
I had a kid telling me she was in 8/10 pain, sudden stabbing pain in the navel area and lower right area. She looked absolutely miserable. The pain was worsening within 5 minutes. I call the parent and ask them to pick her up and contact the pediatrician immediately. The parent asks if they can speak to the child. The kid gets up, walks over, and says "oh no I'm fine. Yeah actually it feels a lot better." WHAT?!
Now I look like an overreacting idiot even though she was JUST writhing in pain and on the verge of tears before talking to the parent.

I had a similar situation during my first few weeks as a school nurse back in 2012. I had no orientation at all and it was all new to me. Kid came in from PE, grabbing his abdomen. He had been hit in the torso and I could barely understand him through his gasping and moaning. I was worried that he broke a rib or had internal bleeding. I called mom and left a message and he was not letting up at all. I called another nurse in the district for some guidance- should I call 911? Wait for mom to call back? She asked who the student was. I told her his name and she said "NOPE! Send him back. I guarantee he is fine." When I told him to head back, he had a miraculous recovery and walked out. When mom called back she said the same thing.

BrisketRN, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2019

48 minutes ago, OyWithThePoodles said:
Hmm, my first thought was "what is so bad at home that she doesn't want to go?" But maybe she's just one of those that the parents call her out on her BS and she knows she will get in trouble.

The parent she wanted me to call didn't answer. The parent I got in touch with was a healthcare professional. So I'm guessing the kid knew they'd detect the BS.

kidzcare · Mar 7, 2019

1 hour ago, BiscuitRN said:
I had a kid telling me she was in 8/10 pain, sudden stabbing pain in the navel area and lower right area. She looked absolutely miserable. The pain was worsening within 5 minutes. I call the parent and ask them to pick her up and contact the pediatrician immediately. The parent asks if they can speak to the child. The kid gets up, walks over, and says "oh no I'm fine. Yeah actually it feels a lot better." WHAT?!
Now I look like an overreacting idiot even though she was JUST writhing in pain and on the verge of tears before talking to the parent.

I just quoted this with another story but remembered another.

This one was at camp a couple years ago. There was a 16 year old girl who was in the health center everyday for a variety of things, big time exaggerator, overall pain. I got to the point where I told other nurses that I would not deal with her unless absolutely necessary. She outright lied to me about something, I called her on it and she was so belligerent. I brought it up with the camp director and it was the kind of situation where her manipulative behavior was a problem and they had talked to the parents but also considering that they were paying $10,000+ per year for a decade for her to attend... they were just going to tolerate it until she aged out. Very frustrating for me but I don't make the decisions.

Anyway, she was out at the boys' camp for a social and apparently fell and hurt her ankle. They drove her back and she's writhing in pain, incoherent. I'd had enough of her crap. I took one look at her theatrics and turned to my director and said "If she can't bear weight then we need an ambulance" She groaned dramatically and said "Oh, maybe I can try..." and took a few pained steps. I sent her back to her cabin with ice. A huge camp olympics started a couple days later. This is an event that the kids look forward to immensely. The theme is a secret every year, the kids dress in crazy outfits and compete. I saw her running around camp for those 2 days. No limp, no need for ice, not a single complaint. I saw pix of her giving other campers piggy back rides. The day after the olympics ended, she was back in the health center moaning in pain. I pointed out what I'd seen, she was not happy. Accused me of hating her and trying to get her to hurt herself more. Again, the camp director would not give any kind of consequence. Last year was the last year she could be a camper and if she returns this year as a counselor, I will avoid her at all costs. I can see her holding a grudge and feel for any person that "wrongs" her in the future. I could see her freaking out and attacking or causing property damage.

OldDude · Mar 7, 2019

25 minutes ago, kidzcare said:
I just quoted this with another story but remembered another.
This one was at camp a couple years ago. There was a 16 year old girl who was in the health center everyday for a variety of things, big time exaggerator, overall pain. I got to the point where I told other nurses that I would not deal with her unless absolutely necessary. She outright lied to me about something, I called her on it and she was so belligerent. I brought it up with the camp director and it was the kind of situation where her manipulative behavior was a problem and they had talked to the parents but also considering that they were paying $10,000+ per year for a decade for her to attend... they were just going to tolerate it until she aged out. Very frustrating for me but I don't make the decisions.
Anyway, she was out at the boys' camp for a social and apparently fell and hurt her ankle. They drove her back and she's writhing in pain, incoherent. I'd had enough of her crap. I took one look at her theatrics and turned to my director and said "If she can't bear weight then we need an ambulance" She groaned dramatically and said "Oh, maybe I can try..." and took a few pained steps. I sent her back to her cabin with ice. A huge camp olympics started a couple days later. This is an event that the kids look forward to immensely. The theme is a secret every year, the kids dress in crazy outfits and compete. I saw her running around camp for those 2 days. No limp, no need for ice, not a single complaint. I saw pix of her giving other campers piggy back rides. The day after the olympics ended, she was back in the health center moaning in pain. I pointed out what I'd seen, she was not happy. Accused me of hating her and trying to get her to hurt herself more. Again, the camp director would not give any kind of consequence. Last year was the last year she could be a camper and if she returns this year as a counselor, I will avoid her at all costs. I can see her holding a grudge and feel for any person that "wrongs" her in the future. I could see her freaking out and attacking or causing property damage.

UGH! These kind of kids suck the life out anything fun, joyful, or positive. Hopefully she's history. But, if she does return, I'm sure she has to sign or agree to some kind of contract or covenant; breaching that might be grounds for dismissal. ?

Good luck!!

BluebellRN, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2019

I made a parent mad today. Why? Because I called to ask about an allergy.

Mom told me her child shouldn't be taking medicine they didn't need and putting poison in poor baby's body just to eat the offending allergy food. Tried in vain to explain that I needed to know if we needed EMERGENCY medication, in case poor baby stops breathing because they came in contact with the offending food.

Mom has now called the teacher and principal, who both know how nuts she is, to complain that I demanded she take her baby for allergy testing. I mean, I asked if poor baby has been allergy tested. I offered to fax everything because she didn't want to take baby to the MD because it'll cost too much, even though in the next breath she says they go all the time to the MD.

ruby_jane, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2019

1 hour ago, kidzcare said:
I brought it up with the camp director and it was the kind of situation where her manipulative behavior was a problem and they had talked to the parents but also considering that they were paying $10,000+ per year for a decade for her to attend... they were just going to tolerate it until she aged out. Very frustrating for me but I don't make the decisions.
Last year was the last year she could be a camper and if she returns this year as a counselor, I will avoid her at all costs. I can see her holding a grudge and feel for any person that "wrongs" her in the future. I could see her freaking out and attacking or causing property damage.

I have a similar story....except Sweet Pea was demanding rides in the staff golf cart. Turns out that a 10-acre camp is not the place for you with a soccer injury, Sweet Pea. Director and "camper care" decided and she was ticked...but when she returned a week later it was miraculous how well she was.

kidzcare · Mar 7, 2019

1 hour ago, OldDude said:
UGH! These kind of kids suck the life out anything fun, joyful, or positive. Hopefully she's history. But, if she does return, I'm sure she has to sign or agree to some kind of contract or covenant; breaching that might be grounds for dismissal. ?
Good luck!!

I very much doubt she would be accepted as a counselor. Or maybe I very much hope that...

My first year at camp her sister was a counselor and before I knew they were sisters, I had had enough of her too. She had a heat rash under her sports bra and was freaking out thinking it was ring worm (which she definitely thought was some kind of worm that burrowed under her skin no matter how many times we explained that it was not) and upset that there was not an instantaneous cure for her discomfort.

43 minutes ago, ruby_jane said:
I have a similar story....except Sweet Pea was demanding rides in the staff golf cart. Turns out that a 10-acre camp is not the place for you with a soccer injury, Sweet Pea. Director and "camper care" decided and she was ticked...but when she returned a week later it was miraculous how well she was.

Oh, yes. The golf cart. This girl wanted the golf cart too. When she saw the camp doctor, she specifically asked if she could be carted around camp. The doc told her "Absolutely not. No ACE wrap, no crutches, you are fine" This girl walked out of the exam room and asked our health assistant to radio for a golf cart. Our assistant didn't have a reason to question that and did. When the doctor found out, she was seeing red. She'd had enough of this girl too after however many years at camp and dealing with this girl and her sister. She scolded the girl and reported it to the camp director... but, again... parents who pay 10,000 per kid every summer get quite the pass. Such a great life lesson to teach these kids.... Pay enough and your bad behavior will be excused ?

Amethya · Mar 8, 2019

I had to deal with a kid like this at camp, but then again she did have mental issues.

The kid liked me super quickly because we had the same name, so she would listen to me sometimes. So they would use me as a proxy for her. She liked the attention, so she would moan and cry, scream and kick and one time she broke her leg and it was a nightmare. They all told me to help her go get dinner and drive her here and there, but it would take forever because she would be in the bed, super depressed and cry, would not want to get up. Then she would want to sleep in the health center, so she would cry she felt bad and cry and scream. So we had to let her sleep in there and guess who was made to be her caregiver? me.

I spent a week doing this and then I asked if they can have someone else do it, because it's was eating up my time to do my shift, but they said no because she liked me. I tried to go above the nurses, but since she paid 10,000 every summer, I was ignored.

Amethya · Mar 8, 2019

16 minutes ago, Amethya said:
I had to deal with a kid like this at camp, but then again she did have mental issues.
The kid liked me super quickly because we had the same name, so she would listen to me sometimes. So they would use me as a proxy for her. She liked the attention, so she would moan and cry, scream and kick and one time she broke her leg and it was a nightmare. They all told me to help her go get dinner and drive her here and there, but it would take forever because she would be in the bed, super depressed and cry, would not want to get up. Then she would want to sleep in the health center, so she would cry she felt bad and cry and scream. So we had to let her sleep in there and guess who was made to be her caregiver? me.
I spent a week doing this and then I asked if they can have someone else do it, because it's was eating up my time to do my shift, but they said no because she liked me. I tried to go above the nurses, but since she paid 10,000 every summer, I was ignored.

Don't get me wrong, I liked the kid, but it was so hard because I never dealt with someone with that much of a mental problem. It was hard trying to help her when she couldn't be helped. The big problem I had was her parents were just brushing it off as normal hormonal puberty anger, and it's like... nooooo. This was so much more than that. I mean her crying was manic crying... I still wonder if she got the help she needed.

NutmeggeRN, BSN · Mar 8, 2019

22 hours ago, BiscuitRN said:
I had a kid telling me she was in 8/10 pain, sudden stabbing pain in the navel area and lower right area. She looked absolutely miserable. The pain was worsening within 5 minutes. I call the parent and ask them to pick her up and contact the pediatrician immediately. The parent asks if they can speak to the child. The kid gets up, walks over, and says "oh no I'm fine. Yeah actually it feels a lot better." WHAT?!
Now I look like an overreacting idiot even though she was JUST writhing in pain and on the verge of tears before talking to the parent.

Nope.. you do not overreact! I would have said to the parent.

"So, I guess whatever was bothering her a few minutes ago is better. That's great. But...if things change and she gets the pain again, then I would certainly contact your provider, just to be sure."

Validates what the kid said and that their story changed.

You have done an assessment, called the parent and made a sound recommendation.

And documented the heck out of all of it.

tining, BSN, RN · Mar 8, 2019

Parent calls to complain that I left a detailed message on her phone. This is a parent that does not call back. WT#

AutumnDraidean · Mar 9, 2019

LO in complaining that breakfast will give her a tummy ache, if I had alternate food I'd have given her some, but I don't.

She wasn't telling me what part of breakfast would give her a belly ache, so I told her to eat whatever she thought would be best and if she got a belly ache we'd figure it out after. Interestingly I didn't see her again all day.

I do wish this nurses office wasn't the repository of spare gym sneakers!!