"huge puddle of blood!"....oh boy

Specialties School

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Just a moment to vent. I not only got a radio call but two teachers sprinting over and banging on my door about a "huge puddle of blood" emergency today.

I walked, did not run, to the room and found a high school student with a nosebleed - a steady drip, nothing dramatic, and maybe about 20 drops of blood on the floor in front of him. Student already leaning forward pinching his nose and asking for some Kleenex, no injury/trauma, says he gets nosebleeds from time to time. I had him gently blow out a big clot (thanks for that tip!), and with a few more minutes of pressure he was back to eating his lunch.

On the other hand, the kid who may have been suicidal and cut himself yesterday... For that I just got a one-sentence email, at the end of the school day so I didn't see it until school was out (Luckily he was OK, I saw him today and talked to mom. Psych follow-up is in place, and a reminder of our policy re: self harm -which explicitly prohibits staff from making reports by email - was sent out)

I like my teacher colleagues, but I seriously do not understand the way they think.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

i am constantly amazed by a teacher's definition of emergency (anything more than a drop of blood, kid looking sick, standing near trash, etc) versus the things that should actually be relayed to me. The kid who is in today after grandad died should probably have an email sent to admins, GCs, and me. Then I'll have some inkling as to WHY he's here sobbing and saying he doesn't feel well. Same with the kid in after a week of absences only to find that the teacher knew the student was hospitalized for taking a whole bottle of something - yep - should probably put that on my radar too instead of just whispering about it in hushed tones in the breakroom.

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

Their definition of legitimate need to know leaves something to be desired, no? Hang in there.

Also I get the custodian involved for a huge puddle of blood....

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Specializes in School Nurse.

I chalk it up to that's why we are nurses and they are teachers. They can't do my job and I certainly don't want theirs. However, their judgement is way off from common sense plenty of times!

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.

Back the truck up, a child cut themselves with suicidal ideation and they are back in school the next day? I am sheltered in my population, I understand that, but come on, no inpatient (as ineffective, as I have experienced, as it is) treatment? Wow!

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I'm constantly getting calls over the radio for kids that are "unresponsive" but when I get there the kid's just refusing to answer questions about drug use to administration and school police ?

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On 11/6/2019 at 10:30 AM, MrNurse(x2) said:

Back the truck up, a child cut themselves with suicidal ideation and they are back in school the next day? I am sheltered in my population, I understand that, but come on, no inpatient (as ineffective, as I have experienced, as it is) treatment? Wow!

When I called mom to inquire... Something the teacher also could've done...she said the kid was mad because she wouldn't let him play video games, and as the argument escalated he superficially cut himself while standing right next to her, and said he would kill himself if she didn't give him the nintendo. Dangerous for sure, but not likely an intention or plan to die. This kid has known psych issues and mom is reasonably system-savvy; she had already contacted his psych team for follow up.

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On 11/6/2019 at 10:41 AM, Mavnurse17 said:

I'm constantly getting calls over the radio for kids that are "unresponsive" but when I get there the kid's just refusing to answer questions about drug use to administration and school police ?

That might be my favorite school weirdness call - because what do you even say? Technically a person who doesn't respond to questions is unresponsive hahaha

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Unresponsive vs verbal unresponsive at least helps.....

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Exactly... my first thought when I hear "unresponsive" is loss of consciousness/no pulse/not breathing which immediately makes me wonder why people are just standing around doing nothing. When I get there, usually the kid is somewhat impaired because they've taken some sort of drug but not to the degree of being "unresponsive" as we know it in the medical world.

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My own kids were prone to frequent nose bleed from a very young age, the doctor knew all about it, and we would just treat them as they happened. By four years old, my kids would literally tell me at breakfast that they had a nosebleed in the night, pinched their nose with Kleenex and it stopped.
We didn’t make a big deal about it and neither did they.

So imagine their surprise when they went to kindergarten, got a nose bleed, calmly helped themself to a tissue, only to have the teacher panic and rush them to the nurse office. ?

They thought it was funny.

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I sometimes get called when a kid is vomiting because "it is a lot and they just won't stop." Yet, every single time I get there - the vomiting has in fact stopped and is not a lot by my standards. But what do I know?????

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