I thought you were being mean, but you were right!

[River Song, RN]

For the most part my first year has gone well and I think that most of the staff are quite respectful of my knowledge. When I started I often said, "I may not know exactly how things are done in this school, but I DO know sick children."

Yesterday, I had a 1st grader complaining of HORRIBLE stomach pain. No nausea, no fever, ate breakfast (supposedly) and would become more animated/distressed as we talked. I had to use the office staff to translate as the student didn't speak English. I had him use the bathroom and lay down but he kept insisting that we needed to call his mom to bring in Motrin?!? My spidey-senses told me that we were dealing with "post-long holiday break I don't want to be in schoolitis" but this kid was really good. He had his teacher and the office convinced. I finally agreed to call his mom (immediate smile) but was going to do it in another room. Explained situation to Mom, she's at work, decided to have her sister bring in motrin because that fixes his stomach aches which she said are due to constipation (yeah, I was hitting a brick wall when I tried to explain ibuprofen isn't a good choice for GI distress but I digress.

So Aunt shows up - 1st grader has been totally calm in my office the past 10 minutes, still refusing to use the bathroom and denying nausea but immediately turns on the water works, grabbing his stomach and talking about how bad it hurts. Aunt decides to take him home, I explained that she would have to sign him out as an elective early dismissal as I did not think he was sick or needed to be out of school. Seriously, it's not worth my energy to fight but I'm not going to make it a medically excused dismissal from my part. Little dude became super animated after learning he was getting to leave and practically skipped out the door.

Fast forward to today.

Little dude comes in from art class, upset, becoming hysterical as he tells his tale of woe. Again the office staff helps me with translation. This time he starts with his stomach aching but then says his mom told him NOT to go to the nurse's office because she is NOT going to pick him up today. He finally admits that he just misses his Mom and doesn't want to be in school. A little talk about how mom has to work to make sure he has food and clothes and that his job is to be in school and it makes his Mom happy to know he is learning. Little dude states he understands and goes back to class.

Both office staff look at me and one says, "yesterday I will admit that I thought you were being a little mean but you were right."

Those little moments are worth cherishing :)

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

I love this. It's hard to explain nursing intuition to the genpop. "Spidey Sense" works so well!!!

[cooties_are_real]

love it!!!!

[nmr79]

Nicely done! I have a few kids who pull this every Monday, it seems. Fortunately I have the support of the school psychologist and the parents of said students.

[tining, BSN, RN]

Almost. Every. Day.

[WineRN]

We have some world class actors and actresses in the making don't we? lol

Great job :)

[BeckyESRN]

We have some world class actors and actresses in the making don't we? lol

Great job :)

The Drama Club teacher said that he was going to forego auditions and just take my word on who the best actors are...

[tining, BSN, RN]

And the Oscar for best actress in a major drama goes to . . .

[MisRN]

I regularly tell my students that I don't send home for tummy aches. And especially if they aren't willing to do the things I suggest to help themselves feel better (poop, lay down in the positions I tell them to, eat a snack, drink a ton of water because really- aren't they always dehydrated? lol).

Glad you got a resolution quick as you did! Some can be very persistent for days and or weeks. I dealt with a student last year who had retching and sometimes made himself vomit from it. Multiple conversations with mom, many days sent home, and several doctor's visits later (allergist for food allergy testing, pediatric GI office visits, endoscope, and a scheduled regimen of Hyosayamine, etc... ) Finally mom came around to my idea that it was a manifestation of his anxiety, which I had suggested from the beginning. Once he learned that he wasn't being sent home for it, it finally started to subside (knock on wood!).

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

We have some world class actors and actresses in the making don't we? lol

Great job :)

I really feel that the Academy awards should have some school nurses on the panel to really break down the actors most gripping death scenes.