Hi school nurses! I'm a new school nurse and I've been having an influx of students saying they're dizzy. No other signs or symptoms. They deny hitting their head. Some say they've ate breakfast, some say they haven't. I always offer the snack and most of the time they feel better but lately they're saying it doesn't help.
What do you do for just dizziness? I've called home for 2 different students and one parent told their child to stop trying to get out of school and suddenly he felt better and went back to class. The other parent actually came to pick the student up. I don't know why I was shocked; I was kind of expecting it to go like the first parent. I don't want to dismiss how they're feeling and it's something serious but at the same time I don't want dizziness to be the golden ticket out of class.
I tend to have a lot of dizzy kids after a staff member uses the big laminator...the smell gets to a lot of people (adults included).
In most instances, if vitals and assessment findings are WNL, I give water and verbal reassurance. Most times after a few therapeutic minutes of silence the student is bored and requests to go back to class.
I also find that, even at the middle school level, students don't necessarily know what "dizzy" means. I ask them to describe it, have they felt this way before, what helps, etc. I very rarely have students that have dizziness unaccompanied by other symptoms that continues after 10 minutes of water/snack and rest in the health office.
Specializes in School Nursing, Ambulatory Care, etc..
I actually did a Google search for "school nursing dizzy" and found this thread. I've had several kids come in today c/o dizziness. I do a set a vitals, look in their ears, have them stand with their eyes closed and then open their eyes and stand on one foot. Anyone have any other things they look for on assessment? Of course I ask about food and water.
I tend to have a lot of dizzy kids after a staff member uses the big laminator...the smell gets to a lot of people (adults included).
In most instances, if vitals and assessment findings are WNL, I give water and verbal reassurance. Most times after a few therapeutic minutes of silence the student is bored and requests to go back to class.
I also find that, even at the middle school level, students don't necessarily know what "dizzy" means. I ask them to describe it, have they felt this way before, what helps, etc. I very rarely have students that have dizziness unaccompanied by other symptoms that continues after 10 minutes of water/snack and rest in the health office.
OK, I'm aging myself here, who remembers the smell of purple ink from the mimeograph machine????
Kooky Korky, BSN, RN
5,216 Posts
gas leak? furnace and heaters ok? other chemicals as mentioned above