Health room log examples

[cowgirlBSN]

I was wondering if any of you minded sharing what your daily logs look like. The one I'm currently using isn't very good. It has the date, time, reason for visit (a very small area to fill in), and then a list of problems (illness, first aid,medication admin,health education,rest, etc.) that can be check marked. I like the idea behind it but I don't feel it's detailed enough. Do you have a short list like this and then fill out a more detailed on that goes in the student's chart? What do you put in the student's personal chart? Every stomach ache they come in with? I've just been putting in letters to parents I've written and issues such a lice or daily med logs. Thanks so much for your help!

[cowgirlBSN]

Thank you so much! You've been a great help!

[Artistyc1]

Our system is pretty simple. Each child has a "day sheet", with their name, and date of birth on it. These sheets are kept, in alphabetical order, in a ring binder. As you fill a sheet with visits (ours are done by narrative) each entry being dated and with time of visit on it. We only chart the illnesses or injuries, not for clothes changes when they spill milk or something non health related. We also have a log sheet, that we write child's name, time of visit, and complaint (pretty much coded for confidentiality, but can jog my memory as I chart). Those sheets are not for the medical record, and it just helps me keep count of how many visits I get in a day for end of year report.

[bergren]

I used a binder in a school where I only had 250 students and it worked well. I put the sheets in each students folder at the end of the year or when it was full.

However in a school of 1000 or more the binders do not work. In a school of 4000, a "shoebox" system of 8 X 5 cardstock individual student logs worked better, the cards were color coded by grade and filed in the manila folder when full or at end of year. In that district the main office printed labels for each students card with name, homeroom, birthdate, grade. Each night the shoeboxes were locked up.

[Artistyc1]

Dear Martha: I only have 265 kids. I know, I am of the lucky ones. At my last school, I had grades 3-12th, and almost 1300 kids. I couldn't believe my luck to land this job, almost 4 years ago- you'd have thought I had won the lottery, LOL!

With 1300 kids, we had 4 binders, one for each quarter of the alphabet. I did like it, but your system sounds to be much more user friendly.

[bergren]

I should have added that the "showboxes" are the clear plastic showebix sized boxes you get at a store like the Container Store or Target.

[pugmomrn]

Ugh. To think of all the paper and double charting!!

We are currently FERPA and HIPAA non-compliant with our health room log, but I am determined to bring us up to speed next year! They have struggled on and off in my district (of 1500 students K-8) with using our Skyward system. Most of our difficulty with keeping up with the electronic records has to do with the time it takes to log each student in-- it's just me here with a few fingers' full of volunteers and the secretaries when I'm not in the buildings. However, each time I think of adding 1500 more sheets of paper (or other forms of tear-off health room passes/slips) my head spins at all of the extra filing-- and time to do stats!!!

We're just going to have to buckle down and make the electronic records work! (And make Obama happy in the process!)

[bergren]

You should not have to "work" to make electronic records work. The electronic record should work for you. The Skyward users group should campaign to get a simple click system to log the students in. Look at the demos of some of the other software companies and ask Skyward to provide similar capabilities.

[schoolnurse09]

I want to make sure I understand what you are saying about the 'Health Office Log' is illegal. Our district uses a form on which the student's name, grade, reason for visit, and outcome are documented by date. That data is then transferred to the student's 'Health Card' that is part of their permanent file. The 'Log' is also kept for some amount of time..not sure how long. They are in the process of starting to transition to electronic records (replacing the Health Card), but they do not mention eliminating the 'Health Office Log'. If there is a federal law prohibiting this, it would be important information to impart on the district "powers that be". Thanks

[bergren]

It is legal to use "memory joggers", papers with mutliple names that are eventually destroyed when a notation is made in a student's permanent record. A temporary health room log or worksheet would meet FERPAs definition of that. But you would need to make that transfer to the permanent record within a reasonable period of time in order for it to be considered the "orginal"record under best evidence laws. Worksheets or memory joggers should be destroyed immediately after transcribing into the permanent record. Plus, if in a situation where there is a lawsuit or a supeona of the records, if the attorney finds out you have a log in addition to the permanent record, you would be required to provide it.

You want to avoid a system that automatically requires double documentation. School nurses already spend a greater percentage of time documenting than acute nurses. You do not want to exacerbate that by documenting twice. The card system avoids that if electronic records are not an otion.

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

We use excel to document everything. Everything is electronic. At the end of the month must submit an electronic daily log to the people in charge.

[bergren]

"At the end of the month must submit an electronic daily log to the people in charge. "

Are you meaning your nurse supervisors?

[mcknis]

what is FERPA?