do I tell the other school's nurse?

[Sudsy]

I work in a private (religious) school with a significant population of people from a country where having lice is regarded very casually. My school is strict about its no lice or nits policy.

I have a family in the school with three children who all came w. a LOT of nits. The family just moved to this country and I'm sure the parents are overwhelmed w. unpacking and getting the kids settled in, but I have not seen the daily decrease in nits that I was hoping for (in order to get the elementary child to make it to class on the first day I asked them to come back after I finished checking all the other students [my school requires a 'no nits' letter from the nurse to be admitted to class....], and I then picked through her hair for 1.5 hours to get her nit-free.....This was after her mom said she had used a lice treatment product and "spent hours" combing through her hair.)

Anyway, this family has three older children at another private religious school a mile away. That school also has lice checks and I am pretty stunned that the children at that school passed, based on what I see in the heads of the kids at my school. I know the school nurse there a bit and am wondering if there is a way to drop her a hint about maybe she should look at this family's kids again to recheck? I told the mom at my school that she needed to recheck her older kids and she said she would, but she could just be telling me what I want to hear

I know I can't call and say,"you should recheck the Smith family", but is there anything I could/should do?

Thanks so much for any input. I have only had a week on the job and want to do things correctly :)

[safarirn]

Perhaps instead of 'rechecking those kids' she should 'recheck' her schools policy. No-nit policies are so antiquated & not at all in line with the current standard of practice.

[Sudsy]

Well, barring that for the moment :). I did have a talk w. the principal of my school about how the AAP says no child should miss school b/c of lice and that was why I picked through the girl's hair....

And, I am quite sure that the kids have lice based on the number of nits I see and the location.

[Jolie, BSN]

Nope.

It is inappropriate to share confidential information with another school, especially since this is clearly not an emergency situation and there is absolutely no risk to the siblings or students at the other school.

That would not be a good way to forge a trusting with this family, or demonstrate your understanding of student confidentiality to your employer.

And I agree, working to change your policy based upon current scientific knowledge and principles of public health is a far more worthy endeavor, although I know it's not easy :)

[Sudsy]

Thank you, Jolie. I appreciate your input.

The only thing I could think to say to the other nurse is something about how I was finding a lot of nits and lice in the people from x country and has she found that her experience, too? (But I didn't want to seem prejudiced. It's just that that country doesn't treat lice like we do here!)

[Jolie, BSN]

I think the only way for you to do this would be to suggest that the mother to contact the nurse at the other school for additional information or resources for eliminating lice.

I don't envy you this situation!

[safarirn]

Thank you, Jolie. I appreciate your input.

The only thing I could think to say to the other nurse is something about how I was finding a lot of nits and lice in the people from x country and has she found that her experience, too? (But I didn't want to seem prejudiced. It's just that that country doesn't treat lice like we do here!)[/QUOTE]

You really said that?

"But I didn't want to seem prejudiced." Hmmm?

[Sudsy]

No, I didn't say that.

[fireball98]

i think that you can't say anything to the other nurse due to confidentiality. if the other school was in your district then maybe you could share. i personally do not remove anything from a student’s hair. if i see it they get sent home. i have been allowing kids back when they have been treated with the shampoo and i see a major decrease in nits. i have had problems at my school with triplets and a family with one girl and twin girls. both families of three have been passing it around to their 6 classrooms! in a school with 22 classrooms that is a big chunk of the kids. one child was asked if his mom washed his pillow case and he said he did not have onel many of these kids cannot afford the laundry mat when i find lice so it is a big hardship on them.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

http://identify.us.com/idmybug/head-lice/head-lice-faqs/index.html

this is a great website with good information about head lice and other bugs.

no, as others have stated you can't contact the other school nurse.

this is not an emergency - although you do have to use science to get through the long-standing fear of head lice. be prepared for a battle but get all the info you can to prove your point. it is changing all over the country. the "no-nit" policy is antiquated and not scientific.

the nasn (national association of school nurses) has a great statement on this as well. just google nasn and search for "lice".

i'm new at this job - but i've been told to never do head lice checks and never comb out nits. that is not our job.

also, we don't send out parent letters until there are 5 or more kids in a classroom with lice. lice do not jump.

good luck!

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Just google NASA and search for "lice".

Best typo ever I'm picturing the Hubble telescope being used to search for missed nits...lol. Sorry, Spidey's Mom, just had to give you a little ribbing for this one

[Sudsy]

Interesting f/u: I've been reading "School Nursing: A Comprehensive Text" and on p. 608 it says "When it is known that students in one school have possibly exposed students in neighboring schools, the school nurses for those schools should be notified".