I had a student last week who stated she was kicked in the head by a student on a swing (unintentional). She remembered the student's name but claimed she had no recollection after that. This girl likes to make up great stories, she is related to so and so, they are adopting, etc. which drives her mom nuts. She sat in my office and acted like she was passing out, eyes rolling back in her head but maintaining her balance in her chair. Had I not had this history with her, I would have called 911. Long story short, mom was close and I sent her out with instructions to followup in ER. Mom was going to skip, but DD was sleepy, so she went. Mom had emailed us saying DD was on her iThing well after midnight night before, was just overly tired, so doctor ordered no electronics for a day to drive point home. DD came to school the next day stating she suffered a major concussion, to the point that she had to study her yearbook to remember her classmates names, and it worked! Even on the students who were new this year! The teacher came to me for clarity and I talked with mom who said they didn't even do a CT scan, but they couldn't rule out a minor concussion, given her sleepiness and DD acting. I let the teacher know this, but this girl had everyone doing things for her all day and got the poor girl who barely touched her to bring in chocolates for her. She totally played up a non injury and I just wanted to tell her classmates that she did not have a major concussion or she wouldn't have been in school for a few days and been on brain rest. I know in 20 years, when I see her on movie posters, I can say "I knew her when...", but for now I am so frustrated with her. Is it my place to clarify this?
Ugh. Please tell me this girl moves on to another school soon because you will NOT want to know her when she hits the middle school years.
I had one of those. It was bad news.
Unfortunately we are K-8. I guess we will be having some fun, although the drama overall is exponentially less than the public school. Now I have something to look forward to.
Depending on the kids, sometimes I give general information regarding injuries. Concussions require brain rest, so no electronics, no noisy or bright areas, more time to do assignments, etc. I'm not talking about the students, but I am using it as a teaching moment. I'd be concerned with your drama llama that if you made her rest/followed concussion rules that would just make her be like, "see, I am injured!" and reinforce with her friends/classmates that she really is injured and oh no, how did she survive?
My son is in her class and knows the concussion protocol since he was there when my wife and I discussed it. This is the part of school nursing that we have to ingrain into memory because we didn't deal with that in our PCU, so we talk a lot about it. He called her out on being in school, no activity restrictions and no brain rest. Peer pressure at it's finest. A few kids have come to ask me about concussions and I gave generic info, queenie has been dethroned a bit.
The teacher came to me for clarity and I talked with mom who said they didn't even do a CT scan, but they couldn't rule out a minor concussion, given her sleepiness and DD acting. I let the teacher know this, but this girl had everyone doing things for her all day and got the poor girl who barely touched her to bring in chocolates for her. She totally played up a non injury and I just wanted to tell her classmates that she did not have a major concussion or she wouldn't have been in school for a few days and been on brain rest. I know in 20 years, when I see her on movie posters, I can say "I knew her when...", but for now I am so frustrated with her. Is it my place to clarify this?
MrNurse(x2), ADN
2,558 Posts
Unfortunately we are K-8. I guess we will be having some fun, although the drama overall is exponentially less than the public school. Now I have something to look forward to.