I made a mistake... anyone left?

[JerseyTomatoMDCrab]

I made a mistake yesterday and now I need to talk it out with whoever is left.

One of my kiddos came in yesterday saying he fell off the monkey bars onto some grass earlier in the day, landing on his R side and arm. Full ROM in the arm, positive pulses, capillary refill

This morning, he and mom are in my office. R arm is in a soft cast. Mom said they are following up with orthopedist to determine if it's a fracture or a sprain. The arm swelled up last night so mom took him to urgent care. Turns out, the student didn't fall right from the bars, he jumped from the platform and tried to grab one of the further bars and fell from there. He also didn't tell mom that he fell when he got home because he had a basketball game last night and he didn't want to miss it. It broke my heart because HE kept apologizing to ME for not telling me "the whole story" when he was here. Poor kid.

Anyway, I told mom my assessment from yesterday and apologized for not calling home. She didn't seem angry or upset but I still feel terrible. Determining when to call home has been one of the steepest parts of the learning curve for me since taking this job. It didn't even occur to me to call, he really seemed okay to me. I usually call if there's even any doubt. Anyway, the principal followed up with mom after she left my office and said mom was fine with everything which made me feel better but I am still sad and feel guilty.

I just wanted to sound off to you guys. Sorry this is so long. All my posts are too long!

[MaltyChick]

I ended up calling a few parents last Friday for injuries that weren't serious, but I wanted to cover my butt. Each of them thanked me for letting them know. I felt good at the end of the day because I didn't have that feeling of not catching something or notifying someone hanging over my head. The one call I made was on a second grader with a first time nose bleed. I thought mom would want to know. When I called, she said he had a nose bleed last week and gets them all the time when he over heats!! I thanked her and told the kid! The kid had that, huh?? look on his face. She thanked me for calling anyway. Ha!

[NurseOnAMotorcycle, ASN, RN]

... I called her at least 3 times daily for 2 weeks until she apologized and said I could stop...

That is so full of win!

OP, I apologize since I am not a school nurse, but I have occasionally had letters from the school nurse at the end of the day just to let me know that some small thing had happened. If you aren't sure if you should call the parents or not, is that something you could do?

Ps: if my kids were in your office three times a day....

[SnowyJ, RN]

I once had a parent mad that I didn't call her for some minor issue. She said "I want you to call me ANY time one of my children crosses your threshold for ANY reason."

So I did.

It took about 3 weeks of continual phone calls for nonsense issues before she said 'oh, you don't have to call me for minor things."

I told her to put that in writing. And she did.

[AutumnApple]

I am not a school nurse, but I work right beside them. I do homecare and take my pt to school. The place I sit and wait while he is in class is right at the nursing office for the school.

Something I noticed right away was: They call home so much.

I kind of thought to myself they were overkilling it tbh. But they talk to me sometimes and share stories with me about things that have happened or how some of the parents can get. As time went by, I started to understand why they do it that way.

I appreciate your post. Good reminder that, even though we sometimes feel like we are bothering people, we still have to stay on the safe side.