How do you handle these?

Specialties School

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how do you handle injuries that occur at home?? mondays are usually the days that i see the most of these, injuries that occur over the weekend. mom/dad send kid to school with a scraped knee or something of that effect, and before the day is out they are in my office wanting a bandaid/ice pack/something! 9 times out of 10, they will tell me that nothing was done at home when it happened, but now it suddenly hurts so bad they can't walk--how do you handle these?

i've already had two this morning that hurt themselves at home over the weekend.

Specializes in school nursing.

ring, ring...

"hello, John's mom? I have John here and I think his shoulder is really injured. He says he hurt it Saturday and i would have expected it would be better today, but he can't use the hand or arm at all. He needs to see his doctor right away." "okay. Send him home on the bus." "No, ma'am. I think it might be dislocated or fractured. He cannot go on the bus with this injury. Come get him now, please." "Okay."

Next day I call John in to check out the shoulder. Turns out mom didn't take him to the doctor and now the shoulder is really killing him. His lip is beaded with sweat and his lips are pale. so I call mom.

ring, ring...

"Hello, this is the school nurse again. I have John here and he is in extreme pain. He says you didn't take him to he doctor yesterday. You MUST take him to the doctor NOW. I think the shoulder may be dislocated or fractured." "I can't" "You must" "I can't. I'm sick" "I'm sorry you're sick, but he's badly hurt. He's 13 and he can't drive himself. Someone must pick him up and take him to the doctor NOW." "I can't" "Okay, I understand you are sick, but this is an emergency. If you cannot be here in 15 minutes I will need to call CPS and you can deal with them. They will call you from the ER, I'm sure." " Oooo-kaaaay, Iiiii'mmmmm cooooom-iiiiiinnnggg"

She comes to school, mad as hell. I smile and greet her, thank her for coming. She shoots me daggers. I tell her he cannot come back to school without a written note from the doctor.

Kid stays out of school for a day. comes back in a brace, He has a fractured shoulder. :mad: And mom didn't even send him with any tylenol or anything.

Some parents need to be held down and poked in the butt with a sharp stick. :devil:

Thanks for sharing! Good example of how we can advocate for our kids. Sad that we have to threaten CPS, though!

Specializes in Med-surg, OB, school nursing.

I used to get so frustrated when I'd see kids that wanted treatment for something that happened over the weekend but I soon realized a lot of well-meaning parents just don't know if something needs checked by a dr or if it just needs time to heal. I think as nurses we sometimes take it for granted how easy it is to see the signs that something is ok or not but for a lot of parents they just don't know whether it's worth the money, time, hassle, etc to have something checked that just may be a bruise. I know we can't tell for sure but we can give an educated guess. Also, unfortunately sometimes kids need someone to go to bat for them like the case posted before this so I always assess even if I don't need to treat. Kids worry about everything so sometimes all I have to say is you're going to be fine and they are happy.

I will assess the injury and ask questions. If there is no s/s of infection or major injury, I will instruct on s/s of infection, cover if needed, send to class and/or call parent with any concerns.:redbeathe

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