frequent flyiers

[plc115]

Anybody have any tips? to decrease multiple visits.

I have tried educating teachers, however after the student insists multiple times teachers "give up" and send them

I have tried the coupon system (only three visits a week) that worked, for the older students

but the little ones. not so good

I was thinking about sending notes home to parents for reason of visits.( The note would be a standard form )

But before I do that I was wondering if maybe some one else may have a solution that worked.

[RN4STUDENTS]

I try to speak to the teacher and that usually works but they at recess and lunch its the same kids at which point if the visit in unwarranted as the kids who got a scratch friday night at the park I'll look it at and turn it away. I mean you had the scratch since Friday night really?!! I sometimes call the parent or send a letter and that usually helps. If I know the family I usually call them or wait outside to tell them.

[OldDude]

Staff is kind of at a disadvantage because they'll frequently get burned by a little darling going home and telling the parent the teacher wouldn't let her/him go to the nurse. I've had the most luck over the years with inconveniencing the parent with the frequent clinic visits. I'll call the parent every time the child comes into the clinic, let them talk, and have the parent decide what they want to do with the child; go back to class, pick them up, bring some medicine, etc. I'll even call the parents at work if that is what is takes to involve the parent in the clinic visit. Most parents soon get tired of this and will have a talk with the child; it doesn't have any affect on some parents.

[Nurse ABC]

You will never be able to cure it completely but here's things I've tried that help. (I do all of them.) First require teachers to fill out a pass every time with reason for student visit. This will stop SOME teachers from sending kids for every little hangnail if they have to stop and fill out a pass instead of just sending them with a generic hall pass. I also send a note at the beginning of the year explaining reasons to see the nurse and criteria I use to send them home. Second, I sent home a copy of nurse pass with what I did (our nurse passes have are a 2 ply that shows what is written). Thirdly, after a certain amount of visits for stupid stuff that obviously shows they are trying to ditch class, I call the parent and express how concerned over the amount of class time their child is missing and if it continues I'm going to require a dr's visit to rule out a true medical issue. Finally, I haven't started this yet but if all else fails I was going to see if principal would back me and get involved if all the above steps did not fix problem.

One school I was at, I noticed there were just a handful of teachers that literally did not care when or why their students came down and let them for every stupid reason under the book. Of course some parents don't care either so I kept track of how many visits I received from each class for a couple of months and there was such a huge discrepancy the principal got involved and spoke to the teachers involved. However, I've found in every building there are always those teachers that will send them for any reason because they either literally don't know how to say no or because they don't want the parents to get on to them for not sending kids. There is no reasoning with those ones (believe me I've tried) and I just do all the above.

However, you must be careful because if a student is coming down all the time .Sometimes there's a reason like they need/want attention from someone who acts like they care because no one does at home or there is in fact a medical issue or possibly some type of abuse issue. I've had students dx with diabetes, pancreatitis, anxiety, asthma, neglect, abuse, etc from frequent visits that I requested/required dr visit.

All in all its extremely frustrating at times. I LOVE the teachers that put their foot down because I know if I'm seeing one of their kids it's important and I even had one teacher that would give her kids detention if they tried to fake an illness to go home! There's more of the other ones though!

[100kids, BSN, RN]

For many kids calling home and letting their parent know that you are concerned because little Jamie has been coming to see me 3 times a day for the past few weeks with lots of little things. Ask if there is something going on at home and just ask them to keep an eye out and let you know if they are seeing anything. This often sparks a conversation at home and the visits decrease. Or I may find out that something is going on (divorce, death, illness, etc) at home and I can handle the child differently.