Forgery,

Specialties School

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Well now that I'm home, have eaten, and had a glass of wine, I'm finally calmed down. I'm mad at one of the students (a bit), and very much angry at myself.

It the past, I thought I was always pretty good at spotting forged notes, etc... If a kid brought me a note that claimed to be signed by a parent, I could usually tell and followed up with the parent. Similarly, I had parents sign doctor's names to med orders and the like and I can usually spot those (especially for the popular pediatricians in the area) and call on those.

One got by me yesterday. A student had his mother's name forged on a consent form and I didn't catch it. I found out today when I talked to his mother that she hadn't been the one to sign it (and hadn't known about it). Fortunately, after her initial anger she seems to have directed all the blame at her son, so hopefully, I'm not getting in trouble over this. But I was shaking for minutes after I hung up with her.

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Honestly, I don't see how you can be expected to catch every single time a note has been forged. That is totally on her kid and not on you. My guess is, she is embarrassed so looking to blame you. If my son were to do that he would be in big time trouble, and would be writing you an apology letter.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

What kind of consent form was it? What was the discussion with the mother like - was she angry with you? If she was then it's like Girl - hold my purse!

Like MHD said, i don't think it's reasonable to expect you to be a forgery expert and catch every note that people are purposefully trying to slip by. Maybe if that was your sole job, then you could beat yourself up a bit more, but it's not and you've already beat yourself up enough on this one.

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Here is the problem with society, us not being comfortable with holding kids accountable. As good as we are, we are not professional forger investigators!! This kid needs to take all the blame and maybe he will learn something from it.

Just curious, what was the medication? Was this for a stock med or did the kid bring a bottle of medicine also?

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I would simply document what happened on the back of the form, and discuss the issue with your administrator. Make sure that you document that you spoke to the student's parent, and what the conversation was generally involving. As long as your administrator is aware and you have documentation you should be ok.

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
20 minutes ago, beachynurse said:

I would simply document what happened on the back of the form, and discuss the issue with your administrator. Make sure that you document that you spoke to the student's parent, and what the conversation was generally involving. As long as your administrator is aware and you have documentation you should be ok.

That.

It's not your fault. Reflects on the student, not you....

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Specializes in School Nursing.
4 hours ago, ruby_jane said:

That.

It's not your fault. Reflects on the student, not you....

I totally agree with you. It's not my fault, and it totally reflects of the student. However, in the high school I work in, I do lots of CYA work. These kids can be less than honest, and this generation of parents will back them up and turn it around on you. I document, document, document..

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Parent was OK after she figured out what I was talking about. I reported it to my superior (the district student health admin, not the school admin) as it was technically an issue that I went ahead without a real consent. Hopefully, that is the end of it, since the parents aren't pursuing it.

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Specializes in School Nurse. Having conversations with littles..

Oh this is so irritating. I am so sorry. But, seriously, how would you know this wasn't "real" consent!!? Such a sad, sad statement on how society/parenting/teaching accountability to our young'uns has become. :android:

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Specializes in Urgent Care, Oncology.

I was one of those kids that forged my dad's signature on something as a kid. I think it was a test that I got a "C" on. It definitely backfired and I had my butt handed to me by both the school and my dad. Also, I had to write an apology letter to the teacher and it had to be verified that it was signed by my dad. ?

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Not your fault. You do the best you can. This is now a case between son and parents. I hope there is a serious discussion about this from the parents. If I ever pulled this in school, I know my parents wouldn't fault the teacher, nurse, or school at all. All accountability would have fallen on me and me alone...and then serious punishment afterwards.

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"consent" forms can be chewed and spit by most any competent attorney...

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