If you feel sick the nurse will call me and you can go home

[MHDNURSE]

Seriously???? How can I even float the idea of staying to a 6 year-old who was told this by her mom upon arriving at school today? The kid is FINE. A little flushed, afebrile, nothing found on exam, just wants to go home. Really frustrates me and makes it hard to do my job when parents tell them this.

[Al Kalosis]

Reading all the comments reminds me of an interaction I had with the school nurse when I was in high school. I had been feeling nauseated, and at some point it felt bad enough that I went to the school nurse and asked to be excused. The nurse barely looked at me, told me to lie down. After about ten minutes, she told me to get back to class. It was something like 2 PM, the last class of the day - I point this out because it felt a little extra insulting to be implicitly accused of feigning an illness at this hour. I left school anyway, walked home, threw up three times along the way. The point being that if you are a school nurse, it would be lovely if you didn't become so cynical as to assume that children never actually get sick. I'm not saying any of you are...but this nurse was, and maybe it becomes all too easy to adopt this line of thinking.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

I had a student actually say to me yesterday, after I told her multiple times that I have no reason to send her home, "Well, my mom says she doesn't care if I go home, she just doesn't like all of the detentions I get for missing school." She was SO looking for a nurse dismissal and she did NOT get one from me.

This was a great opportunity to find out why she seems to dislike school so much. Has she just got teenageritis or is she pregnant? Is her hearing or vision bad? Is she embarrassed about her psoriasis? Her weight? Her other physical attribute? Is she having trouble in a certain class? With a certain teacher or classmate? Using drugs? Is the home scene off base?

Is she suicidal? Planning to run away? And so on.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

And then you have the parents who write the "If my little darling isn't feeling well at any point today, please call this number and someone will be right there to pick up the little darling" so, 40 minutes into the day- surprise, surprise, someone NEEDS to go home even though they show no signs of illness. But here they are with written instructions to call, so I call. Mom comes, looks at child, touches her forehead and says "You don't look sick and you don't feel fevered, why did I have to come get you?" Because, Mom, you literally wrote her a permission slip to skip school today.

I presume your teaching to Mom includes how not to have this happen again.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

Reading all the comments reminds me of an interaction I had with the school nurse when I was in high school. I had been feeling nauseated, and at some point it felt bad enough that I went to the school nurse and asked to be excused. The nurse barely looked at me, told me to lie down. After about ten minutes, she told me to get back to class. It was something like 2 PM, the last class of the day - I point this out because it felt a little extra insulting to be implicitly accused of feigning an illness at this hour. I left school anyway, walked home, threw up three times along the way. The point being that if you are a school nurse, it would be lovely if you didn't become so cynical as to assume that children never actually get sick. I'm not saying any of you are...but this nurse was, and maybe it becomes all too easy to adopt this line of thinking.

Sigh. This is vent thread. I feel like so many people visit our board, see our vent thread, and proceed to preach to us, more so than on any other vent threads on this site. rant>

To your point, I have called home for a pick-up for a non-frequent flier that was clearly not feeling well at 245 - dismissal is at 3. Parent wanted to me just let the student take public transportation home, but student was experiencing severe nausea and public transportation is a nightmare with that.

I waited 2+ hours after school for parent to arrive after work while the student rested on my cot. I would do the same any truly sick child. This thread isn't about those kids.

While it can come across as cynical in this thread, it - again - because it is a vent thread. We typically post here so we can talk about this things and NOT become cynical in our practice. We don't have a physical nursing station.

I have dug deeper for reasoning when a student is visiting a lot and trying to skip school. Believe me - I bring others into the loop. But sometimes, it is something I can't help much with - like yes, a student does not like math and does not understand it, or may not be doing well in it. I pass that info along. And sometimes, kids just want to be home playing video games instead of in math class, which they understand just fine, but find way less exciting than video games.

[BunnyBunnyBSNRN, ASN, BSN]

Wish I could double like your post!

We do come here to vent and to get support from other school nurses. (I also come here to check my sanity in some situations! )

Sigh. This is vent thread. I feel like so many people visit our board, see our vent thread, and proceed to preach to us, more so than on any other vent threads on this site. rant>

To your point, I have called home for a pick-up for a non-frequent flier that was clearly not feeling well at 245 - dismissal is at 3. Parent wanted to me just let the student take public transportation home, but student was experiencing severe nausea and public transportation is a nightmare with that.

I waited 2+ hours after school for parent to arrive after work while the student rested on my cot. I would do the same any truly sick child. This thread isn't about those kids.

While it can come across as cynical in this thread, it - again - because it is a vent thread. We typically post here so we can talk about this things and NOT become cynical in our practice. We don't have a physical nursing station.

I have dug deeper for reasoning when a student is visiting a lot and trying to skip school. Believe me - I bring others into the loop. But sometimes, it is something I can't help much with - like yes, a student does not like math and does not understand it, or may not be doing well in it. I pass that info along. And sometimes, kids just want to be home playing video games instead of in math class, which they understand just fine, but find way less exciting than video games.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

I live in an affluent town and there are so many classmates to my kids who get pulled out of school numerous times a year for family vacations. While I understand the cost of travel at times other than the standard February and April vacations is significantly less, most of these families can afford to travel during peak times. We know three families who pull their kids out for two weeks per year to do a week at Disney and a week skiiing in the Spring. So these kids are missing 10 days of school, not including any days missed for illness. My neighbor across the street has a daughter in my daughter's class (third grade) who has already missed a MONTH of school. Most of the days she was pulled for random trips, but her mother is also one who lets her stay home for any little sniffle and "mental health days". What 9 year-old needs mental health days that often, if at all? I am dying to ask her what the school says about it but I know it isn't my business.

In my town, they don't want to be on vacation at the same time the rest of us...

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

And yesterday ,the kid who looked and felt absolutely miserable, came down. With a little prodding, he told me he had vomited multiple times during the night, but did not wna tot have to make up the work. Fibber McGibber. Mom ratted him out when I called for him to be picked up...

" I knew you were going to call me, he hasn't missed a day of school since 4th grade".

Thanks for sharing your cooties, NOT!

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

Do you all work in public schools? My kids go to private school and they value the parents as the primary decision makers. They play a supportive role but always defer to the parent on matters such as these. In the absence of a chronic truancy situation, honoring parental preferences and maintaining sincere compassion for the student will serve everyone the best.

Yeah, most of us are public school and in public school, if a kid misses school, the school looses money. Parents can make the call prior to sending kids to school, if you send your kid to school, and they're not sick enough to be excluded, I'm keeping them in school unless I assess they really are too miserable to stay. If a parent calls me (or stops by to see me in the morning) and requests I call them if kid comes in complaining, I will generally do so.. but not the kid that comes in 5 minutes after the bell saying, "my mom said if I don't feel good you'll call her so I can go home". Sorry, too many kids do this. If your kid is sick, keep them home. If you want me to keep an eye on them, call me. Otherwise, if kid doesn't have a fever or other communicable disease, isn't showing evidence of breathing distress, or vomiting/diarrhea out the wazoo.. chances are, I'm sending them back to class.