Have You ???

I really used to hate this when I was a school nurse. :angryfire I would send the child back to class with a note explaining that there were no actual signs of illness and no need to call parents, and within 10 minutes the teacher would send the child back. Honestly, most of the time this was just a dump from the teacher. They wanted the child out of their hair so they didn't have to deal with them in class. There is no easy solution, you just have to stand by your own judgement. Also, maybe some inservices with the staff about appropriate times to send children to your office would work. To give them benefit of the doubt, maybe some teachers just don't know what would be a valid complaint. Unfortunately, you will continue to get the dump situation on occasion. This is one reason I'm no longer a school nurse! :rotfl:

I have been nursing in the school for 3 weeks, and have found one teacher sends almost every child to me. She has a forehead thermometer, and if they have a 99, she sends them to me for a check. Once she even came herself and lined them up to take temps! At least that freed me up to see other kids. I am hoping that this will not continue, and will only be happening during the cold season. She did have several kids with strep at the same time, including herself and her kids, so I think she's just paranoid. I had another teacher that called the Mom herself, after I sent the child back. We have so many kids that are frequent fliers, that I rely on the parent and teacher to gauge if the child is really sick or not, if there is a tummy ache but no other reason to send him/her home (no fever, d, v). At least that saved me the call. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this job, but just love it. Good luck with your situation. Lynne

Watch this over time and collect data. Since you have been there such a small time, and it is flu season, it could be a temporary aberration. But if it continues, provide the teachers and the principal with a coded bar chart showing each teachers frequency of sending kids to the office, and total amount of class time missed. Give each teacher their own code only.

I have been nursing in the school for 3 weeks, and have found one teacher sends almost every child to me. She has a forehead thermometer, and if they have a 99, she sends them to me for a check. Once she even came herself and lined them up to take temps! At least that freed me up to see other kids. I am hoping that this will not continue, and will only be happening during the cold season. She did have several kids with strep at the same time, including herself and her kids, so I think she's just paranoid. I had another teacher that called the Mom herself, after I sent the child back. We have so many kids that are frequent fliers, that I rely on the parent and teacher to gauge if the child is really sick or not, if there is a tummy ache but no other reason to send him/her home (no fever, d, v). At least that saved me the call. I'm still trying to figure out how to do this job, but just love it. Good luck with your situation. Lynne

I am familiar with schools that have written a policy that only the nurse can send students home for illness. Anyone else has to go through the principal. You should talk to the principal about this and get some "advice" on how to handle it. Differentiate between students who have an annoying symptom (incessant coughing) versus NO symptoms other than "I want to go home", or "I don't feel good" without any corresponding physical symptoms. Again - see the other posting about documenting teacher frequency.

Another strategy is to find out what is really the problem . Are the student up too late, no breakfast, that is making them not "feel good" or being annoying? Is it a behavior problem? Does the teacher need a behavior improvement plan for the classroom? Or does the child have a underlying learning disability or delay and needs a Special Education Assessment?

With No Child Left Behind, sending kids home when they are not sick is going to hurt the child and family, but also the school if the child does not score the minimum on the achievement tests.

School Nurses: Have you ever been so frustrated with teachers who want us to call a parent to come get their child, even if you cannot find anything clinically wrong..ie: fever, diarrhea, vomiting, etc.....

This year I have had some of the most pompas teachers who have no regard to the fact that their student is NOT sick, but they want the parents called by the nurse. I can only call a parent so many times, and then their job becomes in jepardy....How do you handle it ???

Thanks ! LPN 90