I started the school year late and came into a mess with the immunizations at my school. The school had a health aid last year. I arrived with about 50 kids with flags on their files marking missing imunizations. I got a 2 week extension from the state to turn in my list of missing immunizations. I stayed after for an hour almost every day working on orginizing my files and sorting out the immunizations. I got an account to the state database and found about 35 missing immunizations reports and brought those kids to compliant status. For every child missing a shot I am checking the date the shots were given. I now have turned in a list to the state of missing immunizations, sent letters home to about 60 families and checked the siblings of those 60 kids. I have also charted all of the prior screenings and put medical alerts into a new computer system. I now have about 28 more kids missing shots to send letters home, and check their siblings files. When all of that is done i need to check the dates of all of the other kids in the school (school has 435 students). After I sent home the first 30 or so letters the secretary told me she just remembered that when there was no nurse the medical info was put in the school records files. those files are stored away from my clinic and I can only look through about 4 before a student needs me at the clinic. So I have no idea how much information I am missing. I asked 2 office staff members for help and they have not helped me yet and even lost the list of students that I gave to them.
I am also seeing about 60 kids a day and had to create every form and system in the office. I also had to learn all of the state laws because I do not have a nursing supervisor this year. I am also aranging blitz screenings and trying to bring in an eye doctor for exams. I am setting ups a staff CPR class etc...
THEN yesterday my intrum principal told me that if I don't have the immunizations done by winter break I will have to come in on my days off to finish!!!!!!!!!!!!
Any advice?? I am thinking about calling finished when I have all of the letters home for mising shots. I don't plan to have all the dates of other kids done until the end of the year. My last school district considered the correct number of shots complint and did not look at the dates they were given. What do you do at your schools? Also if a child does not have a record of the birth hep-B shot but there is a doctors letter stating that their shots are current does that count at your school?
What states are you in? Is this your first year? Mine too. My head was spinning as well at first. Do you have a lead or head nurse in the district that could give you a hand on immunizations? Maybe it could be a "team" effort. If not, I would NOT come in on my christmas break. I would tackle one grade at a time. Get that grade up to compliance and then move on to the next. Tell the AP that she can get on the horn about these students who are noncompliant and help you if she thinks you are doing a poor job. Also EXCLUDE, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDE and if the AP has such a strong opinion about getting everything in order then he/she should back you on this. It is the law, you don't make them you just follow them and unless their is a medical/religious exeption then there is no excuse. Trust me when the parents start getting the truancy letters those shot records will magically appear. I ahd a huge mess to clean up as well when I started and began working on in early August.
Ok the peeing thing. Ask your local churches for donations. Also does your district have a Helping Hands fund of anything of the sorts. Petition the PTA about getting some help. AND STOP SPENDING YOUR OWN MONEY. I have a couple frequent pee'ers and I have stopped changing them. I call the parents and they sit until someone can come and change them. I say "Unfortunaley I am unable to change your student, I am out of clothing, because no one returns the items I lent out" If this one you never see the clothes back from they will get it. ALSO if they frequently pee have the teacher send a note home for an extra change of clothes to keep on hand.
OK next about the traffic....I have 620 students in my school. I see on average 30-40 students a day. BUUUTT that is a lot less than the beginning of the year. DON'T let them stay. Trust your judgement. If they are not sick. Turn them right back around......Word gets out fast if you let them hang for a while. And your goal is to maximize instructional time not babysit.
Feel free to email me at [email protected]. I have a great support staff of nurses and this is my forst year I know how you feel. Hope this helps!
I may try to get a grant from wallmart/sams or go on donors choose.com.
My ethical delema is do I get colored sweatpants that the famillys will return because they are ugly. But this would single out and embarrass the children. Or do I get things that will blend in but never be returned.
I got some local churches on board with us. My school is like yours. These kids don't have a lot of clothes to begin with so if they come into a free pair of jeans, Woot! One of my churches had a Walmart connection and were able to get me a whole bunch of underwear, socks,and jeans. Another one donated some gently used tshirts, jeans, and sweat pants.
I really don't care if they keep the clothes. Every now and then I put out an APB to our staff and ask them to bring in clothes their own kids have out grown. Every now and then I have to just call a parent to bring more clothes, but I try not to do that. My parents are working as much as they can, or they have young children at home or no car. They really can't afford to take a taxi just because of some wet pants.
It is my second year as a school nurse and almost my 3rd year being a nurse. I was in non traditional education as my first career and nursing is my second career. Last year I worked for an agency as a sub nurse then got my own school in November. My district had over 30 nurses and a great supervisor. I could call the supervisor whenever I needed any help or had questions. They had about 30 forms already generated in a data base. If I needed something I sent out an email and it came interschool mail the next day. I don't know what my budget was but I was never denied any reasonable request.
This year I am on my own. I am working for a charter school. There are 5 charter schools from our company in the city but three of us are in the same "district" and I am the only grade school. The other two schools are grade schools but one does not have a nurse. This school never had a nurse so other than "your child was in my office". I had to create every from from memory. The nurses have been helpful in phone calls and emails but I have been getting a lot of contradicting information. I have to keep calling the state to get some help understanding the laws. There are no standing orders and no overseeing physician. I think some of us are going to get together over christmass break to discuss issues.
Fot the issue of the kids sticking around I learned that the hard way as a sub. I have worked as a summer camp nurse and there the kids stay a couple of hours. I now have a fast turn around of the kids unless they have to wait for pee to dry!
As for the pants I have not been spending my own money. My husband and I have a company in Costa Rica that does eco tourism tours and comunity service. One project we do is bring clothes to newborn babies, pregnant women and an orphanage. All spring and fall I go to yard sales looking for donations and working with orginizations to get donations. The orphanage has kids up to 7 years old so all the clothing bigger than that I take to the school. Also if people bring clothes to the school (happened 3 times) if they have PJ's, sleeveless shirts or stuff too small I put that in with the donations for Costa Rica. Today i brought in the last of it until it is warm enough again for yard sales. It will be interesting because todays load of pants are pokadot, plad, rainbow striped, and peach shorts! I already had a local church give a ton of clothes they just burned through it so fast. Yesterday a kid repeadly kicked a radiator in anger and flooded a clasroom. There was an hour with no plumbing so 6 kids peed themself. That made 11 changes and cleaned me out! On 5th grader just learned he has mega colon and poops himself one to two times a day and dosen't remember to bring in his own change every day! I agree with the last paragraph of the last post. My goal with the clothing donation in Costa Rica is to give clothes to kids who need it an that is the population at my school. I want them to be able to keep the stuff but I am running low on avenues to replace it at the school. I called a local "community closet" that provided clothes to my last school district but they did not call me back. One teacher picks stuff up for me at thrift store but I don't want her to spend money on this.
As far as my budget I get about $40 a month. I just got a CPR mask and paper for the beds. There are no blood pressure cuffs, no pulse ox, no flashlights or stethascope. I have brought in a lot of my own tools to be able to function. I was making ice packs in shopping bags untill the accountant and I bought bags with our own money (this is after I ran out of pags my dad gave me). The first order of supplies the accountant decided what from my list to buy first and completly mis-prioritized! I am having to cut down legal sized folders to letter sized folders because for 2 months I did not have folders for the kindergardern files. I am hanging in and ordered all the free stuff I could find online to decorate my room.
I feel like I am venting. I love my job and there is no place I would rather be working. I guess I need money and a filing assistant!!!
I know I'm a late poster on here, but I work at MSU in NJ and when we do our immunizations we cannot accept letters from doctors saying that the student is done with the series. We actually need to see the dates. The students get angry but if they have them all done it is just a matter of tracking down the records. Immunizations are sooooo frustrating and especially trying to make everyone understand that it is not you but the state requiring this. Good Luck to you!!!
There is a nurse leader in the state of Washington who told the state association:
Something like: "If the state or district chooses not to fund them adequately, that does not mean the nurse makes up the difference in their own resources" "They get the services they are willing to fund, not the services they are not willing to fund"
thank you to everyone who replied to my posts. i am happy to say that with about 118 kids out of compliance when i started i am down to 3!!!!! i still have to review a bunch of charts that had the correct number of shots but i have not checked the dates yet. so i will find a few more! why do doctors give 1 year shots at 11 months!!! it is so frustrating.
my school did allow me to hold out kids and take them off of bus riding lists if there shots were not up to date. one child miss a big chunk but it is on his parents they were given fair warning. i have had lots of upset parents but i am doing what is best for their kids. i even found some 5th graders who were missing basic shots and no one had ever held them accountable in the past. i still stay late a bunch but after the kids are gone is the only time i can get anything done! i have been getting out earlier and earlier each week though!!
good luck to anyone else out there struggling with immunizations!!
watsonRN
8 Posts
What states are you in? Is this your first year? Mine too. My head was spinning as well at first. Do you have a lead or head nurse in the district that could give you a hand on immunizations? Maybe it could be a "team" effort. If not, I would NOT come in on my christmas break. I would tackle one grade at a time. Get that grade up to compliance and then move on to the next. Tell the AP that she can get on the horn about these students who are noncompliant and help you if she thinks you are doing a poor job. Also EXCLUDE, EXCLUDE, EXCLUDE and if the AP has such a strong opinion about getting everything in order then he/she should back you on this. It is the law, you don't make them you just follow them and unless their is a medical/religious exeption then there is no excuse. Trust me when the parents start getting the truancy letters those shot records will magically appear. I ahd a huge mess to clean up as well when I started and began working on in early August.
Ok the peeing thing. Ask your local churches for donations. Also does your district have a Helping Hands fund of anything of the sorts. Petition the PTA about getting some help. AND STOP SPENDING YOUR OWN MONEY. I have a couple frequent pee'ers and I have stopped changing them. I call the parents and they sit until someone can come and change them. I say "Unfortunaley I am unable to change your student, I am out of clothing, because no one returns the items I lent out" If this one you never see the clothes back from they will get it. ALSO if they frequently pee have the teacher send a note home for an extra change of clothes to keep on hand.
OK next about the traffic....I have 620 students in my school. I see on average 30-40 students a day. BUUUTT that is a lot less than the beginning of the year. DON'T let them stay. Trust your judgement. If they are not sick. Turn them right back around......Word gets out fast if you let them hang for a while. And your goal is to maximize instructional time not babysit.
Feel free to email me at [email protected]. I have a great support staff of nurses and this is my forst year I know how you feel. Hope this helps!
Jessica