Gluten Free OTCs?

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Specializes in pediatrics, school nursing.

For your Celiac students, do you keep certified GF OTCs on hand? Or would you expect the parent to provide them for that student's use only? For reference, we are talking about one student in the entire district of over 600 students. I don't believe we HAVE to have OTCs and that it is more of a convenience service and so if the family wants certified, they should provide that. 

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Specializes in School Nursing, Pediatrics.

Nope parents can provide if they want it.

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.

We don't keep any OTC's in stock for PRN use, so we certainly wouldn't keep any specialty ones.   I think that is asking a bit much.  

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Specializes in School Nurse.
Eleven011 said:

We don't keep any OTC's in stock for PRN use

Does your district permit kids to carry medications? What do you do for headaches/sore throat etc? 

 

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.

No, kids are not permitted to carry medications on them.  That said, I'm not the tylenol police and if a high school student has a bottle in his backpack, I'm not going to push it much.  Our policy is that if parents want their kids to have access to OTC meds during the school day, they can bring in a supply to me, fill out a permission slip and then I can give it to them upon their request.   Otherwise, its icepacks/water for headaches, salt water rinse for sore throats, ect.  Parents can also bring up a one time dose to a student if they want to without any paperwork.  

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Specializes in School Nurse.
Eleven011 said:

No, kids are not permitted to carry medications on them.  That said, I'm not the tylenol police and if a high school student has a bottle in his backpack, I'm not going to push it much.  Our policy is that if parents want their kids to have access to OTC meds during the school day, they can bring in a supply to me, fill out a permission slip and then I can give it to them upon their request.   Otherwise, its icepacks/water for headaches, salt water rinse for sore throats, ect.  Parents can also bring up a one time dose to a student if they want to without any paperwork.  

Oh, that's an interesting procedure. Do many parents bring in OTC meds? I kind of like that idea...the number of kids coming in for OTC's is astonishing. Everything from pain meds to allergy meds to "supplements for my low iron". ?

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.
seedanurse said:

Oh, that's an interesting procedure. Do many parents bring in OTC meds? I kind of like that idea...the number of kids coming in for OTC's is astonishing. Everything from pain meds to allergy meds to "supplements for my low iron". ?

My school has about 600 kids K-12th grade.   The OTC meds trickle in throughout the year, but by the end I probably have 20-25 different ones.    Most are tylenol or motrin, but I do get anxiety meds, cold meds, itch creams, etc.   

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Specializes in School Nursing.

In our school division, the parents need to supply all medications with an MD order. 

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