Incident Reports

I only document physical injuries (or lack thereof) in incidents of bullying. We require a description of events from an adult who witnessed it. I don't document behavioral issues.

This was happening to me too - I told staff that I will complete a nursing eval/note to attach to the report documenting any injuries or report of injuries. But as BiscuitRN said, the form requires a description from an adult who witnessed it, and that part is their job.

13 hours ago, BiscuitRN said:

I only document physical injuries (or lack thereof) in incidents of bullying. We require a description of events from an adult who witnessed it. I don't document behavioral issues.

Me neither. I will add a note about the physical exam to an existing incident report, but not file one if I witnessed nothing. At my school, we have a standard form and person that witnessed fills it out and/or dean starts it during the investigation if it involved discipline/behavior.

This is a pet peeve of mine... “ I’m sending so and so to you to document an incident”. Not an injury...my last one was one where a student open mouth touched another students shirt...not skin, kinda bite at his shirt only. I told them they should as being first hand witnesses, I would only document with quotes what they asked me to do. And simply state no findings of medical significance, does not mean injury did not occur, just no clinical observable findings at current time.

Seems like they're passing the buck to you...

What is the district policy on allegation of bullying? Because in both districts where I've worked, it's a stop-the-line thing for an administrator (there's a time frame of 48 or 72 hours post report to do one thing, four weeks to do another).

As previously indicated - all you can do is document any physical issues. Not that it's an instance of bullying or whatever because - you don't know that.

19 hours ago, halohg said:

Not an injury...my last one was one where a student open mouth touched another students shirt...not skin, kinda bite at his shirt only.

OY!!!!

Hello! This is my second year as a school nurse and I am so glad that I stumbled upon this group. You all have been such a big help to me so far! I had a question about incident reporting in school. When do you do it? I know there are obvious times like serious injuries, altercations between students, or any situation that might warrant further investigation. Whoever was around or in charge at the time of the incident fills it out, and I add what I did to help the student. But let's say a student received a minor scratch at PE or recess and his parent was notified. Would I still write one then? It seems a bit tedious to have to write one for every little injury that comes to me. Where do you draw the line?

I do them for basically what you stated - serious injuries, altercations, any injury that I have recommended parent seek medical attention (poss fractures, lacerations that need sutures, etc), injuries that happen due to equipment or other things that may cause injury - I filled one out this morning for a busted lip injury when a kid tripped on part of the uneven concrete in front of the school - stuff like that. Normal everyday abrasions, bumps, bruises, etc just get charted as usual without an incident report.

I fill them out for anything serious that they might seek emergency medical attention for. Honestly, I don't fill them out for altercations unless there was a major injury.

i do the same. Injuries sustained that need more follow up, fight injuries, etc. If i think it's borderline - like a student rolling an ankle in PE, i will usually write it unless the student has a quick recovery and no return.

And just remember, if you regularly document well, you can always go back later and fill one out if you need to. For instance, I think of a time that a kid fell, they seemed totally fine, called home, finished their day, went home and mom ended up bringing them to the acute care, diagnosed with a fracture. They needed one to file an insurance claim. I was able to look back in my documentation and fill one out easy peasy.

Adding this: if you don't fill out an incident report you can always still shoot an email to the parents if it's a bigger than normal scrape or leaves a big bruise. That goes a long way with most parents.

We have two forms - accident reports (for things where a serious injury occurred or injury caused by school property which we want to track) and incident reports (for behavioral incidents where physicial or serious verbal harm came to another individual or property was damaged).

I am basically in charge of all accident reports as I assess everyone with an injury and essentially am the deciding factor if one should be filled out. I won't often fill out an incident report, and only if myself or my office is involved in the "incident".