Guess! That! Cough!!!

[fetch, BSN, RN]

This is a new game I've been playing with a few students while we wait for their parents to pick them up. After each time they cough, I play a clip from this website and see if we can match up their cough! What fun!! (/sarcasm)

For serious though, does anyone have another good website with cough sounds? And/or does croup really sound like it does on that website, like a dog having a nightmare?

[Massmagic]

Hi fetch...the coughs...the school is filled with coughs, like all fall, winter, and spring. I sear these kids do not get over their coughs. I am curious though, do call parents when a child has a persistent cough? Or let me ask, when do you decide to call parents when they present with a cough. My school would be vacant. The big thing in Mass is return to classroom percentage. Makes things a little bit more stressful for the nurse.

[fetch, BSN, RN]

For most coughs, I give water/let them sit for 10 minutes. Unless they start vomiting (genuine vomit, not spit-up) or have a fever/something else, it's back to class.

This particular child was a nearly constant cough that sounded like a cross between that croup cough and that asthma cough. He was just miserable, and no one in the classroom with him would be able to listen to the teacher, so he went home. Our policies have very few "required" send home criteria, but there is a clause of "if the student is unable to concentrate/a distraction to others." Honestly, I send way more kids back to class than I do home -- way more than the teachers would like certainly! A cough and runny nose isn't any fun, but it's not a reason to go home once you're already at school.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

I've only ever sent one kid home with a cough (that didn't also have a fever and/or vomiting) and it was an asthma cough. Hit after gym outside, history of asthma with no inhaler on site, constant dry cough that was exhausting the poor kid. Home he went, missed school next day, came back the day after that with a new prescription for an inhaler.

And so many teachers send me kids with cold symptoms: occasional cough, runny nose, etc. No fever. Not fun, sure, but no reason to go home. If the cough is productive and I've seen a kid over the course of 3-4 days or so with it progressing, sometimes I call home to check in with a parent just to update them.