Making a clinic presentation for elementary clinic

OldDude · Feb 15, 2016

Good luck. My one word of advice (haha one word) is to attach every conversation about reducing clinic trips to reducing lost time from the classroom. I would think your administrator would be interested in this. If you haven't already, provide all the teachers a sack full of bandaids with the representation these easy and simple treatments can be taken care of in class - to reduce class time lost by the students. Any time I notice a student "taking the scenic route" to my clinic for a stomach ache the "hurts real bad" I email the teacher with that info. The list can go on and on but always attach your concern with lost time from the classroom. It's likely this is a manifestation of a deeper morale issue with the staff; unmotivated, stale, indifference, etc.

RobinMRn · Feb 16, 2016

This is what I send out at the beginning of the year and again after Christmas break. I also do a PowerPoint at the beginning of the year that goes over everything.

I send out bags of bandaids and tooth boxs too, so that helps on the little stuff.

I had another nurse tell me that she will sometimes write on the kids pass "please handle in the classroom" and send them back if it is just silliness. I haven't tried that yet myself though!

DEgalRN · Feb 17, 2016

RobinMRn said:
This is what I send out at the beginning of the year and again after Christmas break. I also do a PowerPoint at the beginning of the year that goes over everything.
I send out bags of bandaids and tooth boxs too, so that helps on the little stuff.
I had another nurse tell me that she will sometimes write on the kids pass "please handle in the classroom" and send them back if it is just silliness. I haven't tried that yet myself though!

Can I just make all my teachers put your attachment as their background image?

txbootsy · Feb 22, 2016

pixiedrink348 said:
I am a new elementary school nurse this school year (though I've been a nurse for over 5 years) and I LOOOOVE my job, but I've encountered some challenges with things being sent to the nurse that should not be getting sent here. I'm seeing about 100 kids a day when our director of health service says I should be seeing between 30-40 like at our other elementary schools, especially because we're one of the smaller elementary schools at under 500 students. My boss wants me to give a presentation about what things must absolutely come to the nurse, what things are not appropriate to come to the nurse, and what can be done in the classroom with some of the small things to also help cut down on visits (ex: paper cuts). I once saw an allnurses member post a list that they send to their teachers and it had wonderful points but I can't find it for the life of me! I believe it was posted as a comment. I have a few points I've already come up with, but if anyone out there has a list or presentation that they like to use I would definitely appreciate it if you'd share it since I still feel new in this role and can use all the help I can get. I am hoping that complaints like "please clean glasses", "needs to blow nose", "shoelaces came out of the shoelace holes", "loves bandaids, just wants a bandaid", and "would like to nap" will soon be a thing of the past!

I don't take out splinters, I don't do glass optometry duties, and I don't do dental procedures. They can blow noses in the classroom, and my teachers all have a first aid kit. Absolutely no napping during school hours!

Buggus · Mar 5, 2016

RobinMRn, thank you for that attachment! I used info from your attachment and also asked some of the other elementary school nurses in my district for help and they sent me their PowerPoints which covered pretty much everything on your attachment too, plus a few extra things we struggle with specifically at my school. The presentation went very well and seemed to be a real eye opener. The teachers gasped in shock and laughed in disbelief at much of the info because they couldn't believe that these things were coming to the clinic (hello...neither can I and I'm the one that has to deal with them and assess them and document them and this is why I had to put together this presentation!). We went from 90+ visits a day to 60 a day, immediately. It's still a little higher than it should be since all other schools in our district that are our size get 40 visits a day on average, but hey it's a heck of a start! These kids were missing so much class over ridiculous stuff! And right now we're so close to testing time, so it was a good time to set the ground rules.

SchoolNursey · Mar 5, 2016

I would love to see your presentation! Would you share?

SchoolNursey · Mar 5, 2016

OldDude said:
Good luck. My one word of advice (haha one word) is to attach every conversation about reducing clinic trips to reducing lost time from the classroom. I would think your administrator would be interested in this. If you haven't already, provide all the teachers a sack full of bandaids with the representation these easy and simple treatments can be taken care of in class - to reduce class time lost by the students. Any time I notice a student "taking the scenic route" to my clinic for a stomach ache the "hurts real bad" I email the teacher with that info. The list can go on and on but always attach your concern with lost time from the classroom. It's likely this is a manifestation of a deeper morale issue with the staff; unmotivated, stale, indifference, etc.

I use the words "missing instructional time" or "losing instructional minutes". I also tell the teachers that when a student is doing poorly in school, often the committee that reviews them will ask me if the student has any medical issues that would lead to this. If the teacher is sending the student to my office for silly nonsense this will also be disclosed.

icepak · Mar 7, 2016

Missing instructional time really gets their attention. Use one of your frequent flyers, add the total minutes they have been in your office or just say about 5 minutes each. Then, give them the amount of HOURS the student is missing. Also, be firm and send the student back if it is nonsense and they will get the message. Remind the student that the visit was not a "good nurse visit". Also send the student back with band aids and a note saying here are some more for your classroom supply. I have found that it takes a long time to get the teachers on board with the way a health office should work. It is not a free clinic. A faculty in-service is a great idea with email refreshers throughout the year. For example, "allergy season is coming....here are some tips the students can use BEFORE coming to the nurse....like wet paper towels on itchy eyes etc. Does anyone use "health hours" and close at different times during the day?

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2016

I like this visual.