Frequent Flyers

[alligatoRN]

Hi All!

This is my first semester of school nursing after being bedside for 2 years. I am starting in the middle of the school year so I'm playing catch-up and trying to figure out all of the stuff the previous nurse left. With that being said, I feel as if she welcomed the frequent flyers, which is a problem to me.

I have found that a few students come in every day, with stomachaches or headaches, but no temps and seem absolutely fine. The same few students come in during lunch as a big group, where one student will ask for lotion or a salt water gargle. As I ask the group of girls to wait outside for the one student who requests the gargle, the rest of the group will all the sudden say they have stomachaches or headaches, when they did not need anything when I asked previously. I cannot have a crowd of students malingering in my small office every day. How do you cut the habits and reduce the frequent flyers?

Thank you!

[Amethya]

Welcome to our little side of the forum.

Same as they are saying, get passes and limit kids. I had this issue my first year, my 3rd year, I only see 10 kids a day, 20 kids, if I add the ones with medications.

[Avill, BSN, RN]

I had a kid that would come a few times a week, sometimes even a few times a day. I sent an email out to the teachers to remind them the reason's to send students down and to NOT send the student down unless he VISIBLY looked sick.

It seemed to nip it in the butt. I always knew when he had a sub because he would show up.

[alligatoRN]

Thank you all for the insight! I am at a PreK-8 school, so I get it a lot. The school does not allow students to go anywhere without a pass, so that's not too big of an issue. The issue is during lunch when they do not have to have a pass. I have been setting limits and I have actually seen slight improvement!

If anyone has ANY thing else that might help me, I would appreciate it! I don't know what I don't know yet, so anything helps!

Thank you!!

[SaltineQueen]

11 hours ago, alligatoRN said:

The issue is during lunch when they do not have to have a pass.

Is there any reason that your lunch room attendants can't write passes?

[Amethya]

1 hour ago, SaltineQueen said:

Is there any reason that your lunch room attendants can't write passes?

I always kick mine out, unless there's a real reason. If they threw up, or had their periods or something in that emergent manner. I ask them to come back during their next period so their teachers know where they are.

[WineRN]

It also helps to remember that some little ones will ALWAYS come. No matter if they need a pass or if you tell the teacher to try and hold them off. Some little ones just need the extra TLC from the nurse for some reason. I'm a reward for 2 students here and I still cannot figure it out because I really am not fun here. lol

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

Keep visits short, take temp as soon as they come through the door and send them back to class immediately. I have a tympanic sitting preloaded at my side to get a temp in the first 5 seconds. Soon they won't see it as fun. My average visit is 2 minutes, tops.

[grammy1]

On 1/17/2019 at 8:09 PM, alligatoRN said:

The issue is during lunch when they do not have to have a pass.

At lunch time there was always an administrator in our cafeteria who would call on the walkie talkie to let me know that a student was coming to see me. If there was no notification, I would radio back right in front of the student asking if he/she was sent.

Also, explaining to the student that if there was a theft or the fire alarm pulled, etc., the first people they would look at were those who were out of class without a pass.

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

I really make sure my kids know what's going down... Manage their expectations. I feel like 99% of the time, if they come in with a headache, belly ache, "fever" they are expecting to be sent home. I pretty much let all of my kids that come with these complaints that unless they are actively vomiting or have a fever, they aren't leaving (i of course use clinical judgement and some kids get sent home without these specific symptoms). I offer them 5 minutes of rest with a warm pack/ice pack and scoot them out of my office. I still see around 15-20 kids per day, but they're all here less than 3 minutes, which feels much less burdensome.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

40 minutes ago, k1p1ssk said:

I really make sure my kids know what's going down... Manage their expectations. I feel like 99% of the time, if they come in with a headache, belly ache, "fever" they are expecting to be sent home. I pretty much let all of my kids that come with these complaints that unless they are actively vomiting or have a fever, they aren't leaving (i of course use clinical judgement and some kids get sent home without these specific symptoms). I offer them 5 minutes of rest with a warm pack/ice pack and scoot them out of my office. I still see around 15-20 kids per day, but they're all here less than 3 minutes, which feels much less burdensome.

... and the reason I am here, my Principal came in and I have had a steady influx of friends who have conspired to try and go home. Nothing real. My Principal said, ewe, we don't want to mess with the stomach thing. I assured her it was long weekenditis and they will be fine. Every one of them are students whose parents pull them any time they come in my office. I normally save the emails until the end of the day.

[bluebonnetrn, BSN, RN]

On 1/17/2019 at 2:09 PM, EnoughWithTheIce said:

I will e-mail teachers updates - "teachers, Johnny was cleared to remain in school by me at 8:32 this morning. I spoke with mom and the plan is________________."

GREAT tip!

[WineRN]

3 hours ago, MrNurse(x2) said:

long weekenditis.

New T Shirt saying?