Lice! "no nit policy" do you still have one?

fetch, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2014

Drives me nutso! We have a no-nit policy as well and I hate it. It's always the same kids, too: the ones who can't really afford to miss multiple days of school to have their hair combed out.

100kids, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2014

yup and it's a battle not worth fighting here. Thankfully I don't get many cases at all.

coughdrop.2.go, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2014

Let the teachers freak out. Keeping children out of school for nits is only for the psychological comfort of the adults. Here's info from the NASN to help make your case stronger :)

NASN | Head Lice â€" Pediculosis Capitis

schooldistrictnurse · Sep 30, 2014

You can cite National Association of School Nurses and American Academy of Pediatrics as recommending the change. My district is still "no nits" but that's a conversation for a cup of coffee. Or two.

100kids, BSN, RN · Sep 30, 2014

I could cite God himself and the policy is not changing in my district. There are a lot of things I fight for or against in my district and I am the only Nurse in the district, but I know how to play the game and this is one I'm just leaving alone for now.

schooldistrictnurse · Oct 1, 2014

100kids, we are so on the same wavelength on this one!

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Oct 1, 2014

Luckily, the administration here is very supportive of my presenting the facts that nits do not equal exclusion. Now, trying to convince the teachers...well...I have fact sheets handy and interestingly enough, I have to recite/give more to teachers than parents!

Last year, we only had a couple of cases, and thankfully no spread beyond the initial student. (One involved a student that the parents refused to treat, instead dying her hair, but that is a different story...)

OldDude · Oct 1, 2014

Fortunately, Texas took head lice OFF the list of things for which a child should be excluded from school. My only role in head lice now is to provide education about treatment, prevention, etc. Head lice isn't any more prevalent now than it was when we did regular classroom head checks.

RN4STUDENTS · Oct 2, 2014

I didnt think that it would be. l mean they aren't jumping from head to head.

cynmrn · Oct 7, 2014

We have adopted a policy that states that we don't send kids home right when live lice is discovered, but rather notify parents and allow kids to finish the day. We have had kids be held back a grade because of so much time spent waiting for parents in the office when live lice are found. You would think that we told the teachers that we were opening a lice farm. I had to calm down the hysteria but reminding them we still send home if there are lice "shedding" off of the student, and a lot of parents do want to pick up and get treatment started when lice is found anyway. It's just the few that don't really do anything to stop it.

coughdrop.2.go, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2014

We haven't had that many problems, but I did have a student they kept out of school. I would keep checking her for lice and the nits would multiple and I found one live louse after a few weeks of treatment. Mom claimed she was treating her, but she only dyed her hair and then cut chunks of it. The school gave me the okay to buy lice shampoo and the metal nit combs. After giving that to them she returned a few days later mostly nit free. The teachers however, freak out and don't want them near the classroom period. The administration at least listens to me. The board policy says nit free but I ignore it.