It's ok to look at their....

[Jacquipals]

New school nurse in a private school (prek- 8th) after substituting at a public school and I need help. If a student c/o a rash on belly, do you look? If a 5 year old is inc of diahrea everywhere do you change the poor kid or wait til the mom comes? where do you draw the line? The other rn and I have different opinions. Thanks!!

[BeckyESRN]

I could be way off with my opinion, but I genuinely feel the setting makes a big difference in the eyes of the parents.

nope, I think you nailed it!

[GdBSN, RN]

A difference here also is that with cath treatments or needs of special education students the school nurse would have doctor's orders for those procedures that occur frequently. That holds a different perception than that of a student coming to the clinic because of an bathroom accident or a medical condition that just developed.

[ComeTogether, LPN]

Check out men in nursing under the general board, major issue, even in acute care. Thinking about the educational environment, seems like teachers, male and female, are falling about once a week for engaging in inappropriate behavior, so the nurses, counselors and even safety officers fall under that umbrella.

Good grief! Thats horrible! But I can place a condom cath on a male and no one thinks twice. I can understand it for teachers, maybe sort-of, but nurses? We're nurses!

So sad. I'm sorry y'all have to deal with that.

[ComeTogether, LPN]

It common practice for a male who is placing a foley or cathing a female pt to have another female in the room. Or for a male OB/GYN to have a female in the room while performing a pelvic exam. Same idea. Can't be too careful and any accusation (no matter how unfounded) can wreck a life or career.

It's just so bizarre that it's not the other way around, as well. One time I did have a demented fellow tell me to "leave me alone, I"m a married man" but I told his wife about it and we had a good chuckle about it.

Just boggles my mind.

[SHGR, MSN, RN, CNS]

Thanks for your responses, guys. It must be a whole different world in school nursing for real. In hospitals, we just walk in and do whatever, it seems, so I am mostly used to that whole paradigm. Sad that you can't just do care without having to worry about getting accused. It is very rare in acute care to have a caregiver accused of abuse. It happens though (once that I know of in my 20+year career).

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

In a hospital or clinic setting, the parent or guardian is going to be there with the child. At school, they probably won't be there. That is the difference, I think.

[BeckyESRN]

I also think, as someone said before, the expectation is different in a school setting. You fully expect your child to have to remove clothing and have a hands on exam at a doctor's office or in the hospital-the parent will also have at least the option to be present, but your child coming home from school and saying "The nurse made me take off my pants and underwear and looked at my butt and privates" is going to catch a parent off guard! Unfortunately, the reality has become that people accuse first, often publicly and at the highest level and ask questions later.

ETA: Most of us have stories about parents going right to the principal, superintendent, school board, ect over something that could have been completely resolved with a single phone to the nurse involved!

[globalRN]

It seems almost standard to have a witness when viewing private parts or unveiling same to avoid false accusations.

So I would indeed look at a rash.

I would help a 5 yr old change/cleanup...wouldnt leave them in soiled clothing for however long it took for parent to come.

[Ben_Dover]

Caught this one too and held me self in place not to be a gramar Pow-Lis. But spelling and grammar does matter in nursing!

[kidzcare]

Caught this one too and held me self in place not to be a gramar Pow-Lis. But spelling and grammar does matter in nursing!

Are you being ironic? If so, you're doing it poorly.

[Julius Seizure]

Caught this one too and held me self in place not to be a gramar Pow-Lis. But spelling and grammar does matter in nursing!

*....spelling and grammar DO matter in nursing"

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

Were the rec camps you worked at an overnight kind of deal? That makes a very big difference as opposed to a school nurse who is only with the child for x amount of hours a day. When you go to the doctor, you expect there to be a full head to toe exam. When you're in the hospital, you expect a full head to toe exam. When you're at school, a full head to toe exam is not necessarily expected. Why? Well simply because you don't go to school to be examined from head to toe. I think it becomes a touchy subject simply because of the setting. When involving the genitals or breasts, I feel most parents would rather take their child to the doctor to have it looked at rather than a school nurse to look at it. Even though when they get to the doctor's office, the office nurse will then look at the area mentioned on their report, it is still a different setting and they are there for that reason and that reason only. I don't think its a question of whether we're CAPABLE of examining the areas mentioned, but rather the fact that we're in a school setting.

I could be way off with my opinion, but I genuinely feel the setting makes a big difference in the eyes of the parents.

My inner middle school child in giggling at that!