Help me understand school nursing or lack there of. (I'm a LTC nurse)
It is a small Catholic grade school. We have a school nurse from the local school district. She is only there once a month and it isn't to see children but just complete paperwork? I think she goes to all the local Catholic schools in the district.
So, what happens when the children get sick? What should happen?
Right now, only inhalers and epi pens are permitted and in the absence of a RN or LPN, the child is only permitted to administer the medication. It doesn't say anything about insulins (we haven't had diabetic children than needed insulin....we did have a child with a pump a few years back)
So...no more cough drops at all. A letter came home stating that parent can send in 2-3 cough drops that the home room teacher will keep for the child. The child must take them on their own. This will be fazed out because cough drops are used as "crutches". I get the fact that cough drops, even Ludens non menthol, are considered meds...in LTC we need an order for them too.
I guess I have an issue that we really don't have a school nurse. We had a child that had a seizure once. I think they were told "we can't handle him" I'm assuming this is where the parents would need to get a nurse to go to school with the child?
Do you have the secretary call the parents to come in to give cough drops? Tylenol? Tums?
What suggestions do you have for kids with a cough? Sip on water? Cough med at home before school (not really effective)? Keep the kids home for the week or so until the cough subsides?
Petition the school to become the school nurse in exchange for free tuition? :) ....if only this was an option! I have my BSN but no school nurse cert!
I'm a diabetes, and have been since the age of 10. I carried insulin and syringes around with me wherever I went. I dosed my own insulin, gave my own shots... it never occurred to me that someone else ought to be doing it. The school knew I was diagnosed - my teacher was the one who suggested my mom get me tested and half the class came to visit me in the hospital with a card they made in class (the other half can go to hell).
I'm not adding anything to this conversation. I'm just amazed that we control cough drops in schools and I was doing SQ injections and CBGs. Did things change in the last 20+ years (dumb question), or did I skirt the rules?
I'm a diabetes, and have been since the age of 10. I carried insulin and syringes around with me wherever I went. I dosed my own insulin, gave my own shots... it never occurred to me that someone else ought to be doing it. The school knew I was diagnosed - my teacher was the one who suggested my mom get me tested and half the class came to visit me in the hospital with a card they made in class (the other half can go to hell).
I'm not adding anything to this conversation. I'm just amazed that we control cough drops in schools and I was doing SQ injections and CBGs. Did things change in the last 20+ years (dumb question), or did I skirt the rules?
Both.
Things changed in the last 20 years re: the cough drops. At age 10 you totally skirted the insulin/ needle issue, D.
Things changed in the last 20 years re: the cough drops. At age 10 you totally skirted the insulin/ needle issue, D.
Awesome. I would have gone bananas if I had to go to the nurse's office every time I needed insulin or a CBG. Plus I needed the practice for when I became a nurse.
Awesome. I would have gone bananas if I had to go to the nurse's office every time I needed insulin or a CBG. Plus I needed the practice for when I became a nurse.
I live in Canada. Our public schools (in my region, anyway) never have school nurses. It's just not a thing that's done. We have public health nurses that cover about a dozen schools each and, I'm pretty sure, deal mostly with immunizations and care planning for super medically complex kids.
When I was in high school not that long ago I had tons of meds with me all the time. Advil, Tylenol, cough drops (god forbid). I had friends who carried their own prescription meds - inhalers, whatever else. All school staff were trained how to use epi-pens and so were all the kids, actually. I remember learning how to use an epi-pen in the second grade because I grew up with a kid with anaphylactic allergy to peanuts. It is crazy to me that teeangers can't be trusted to carry their own cough drops?
I don't go to night clubs either, LOL. I'd love to try school nursing but getting the certification isn't in my budget now 
CalNevaMimi, LPN, LVN
250 Posts
(That was supposed to be a reply to Far's guy at the door post...)