Napping in health room and other things...

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Hello all,

I have been lurking this site for a long time and just decided I want to be a part of the conversations that are happening on this site! Lots of good info. Anyways, I work in a very unique school where all of our students are in K. We have about 480 students. This is my first year as a school nurse, with the previous 6 in a mix of psych, med-surg and float pool. I have a student on an IEP who, just as of yesterday, is now planned to take a nap in my office/health room (i dont have a seperate office with a door. Its all one big room....that issue is for another post, because there is ZERO privacy) every day from 1-130. I only have two beds as it is, and only two chairs. With it being flu season I have very often had both beds occupied with sick kids waiting to be picked up, and even more kids sitting in chairs. Is it an appropriate request of administration to #1-use my health room for a nap and #2-make me responsible for this child and his behaviors should be not nap during this time (he gets dropped off in my office and then the behavior support para takes off and Im left to make sure he gets to where he needs to go when he wakes up. Just seems like something a nurse shouldnt be doing but who knows, like I said I am new. any thoughts would be very much appreciated!!

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I would think a scheduled nap should take place some where other than the nurse's office and be monitored by his para. You should not be left to babysit for his nap time nor should he have to be exposed to all of the funk/germs/noise that come with being in the nurse's office. Surely there is an extra classroom that can be utilized for this kiddo.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

My thought is naps should be taken in the classroom or some other area and not in a potentially infectious environment; end of story - no further discussion.

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Specializes in school/military/OR/home health.

Well, you have a legitimate infection control concern with it being flu season and LD being healthy, and only being there for a nap, which does not need nursing supervision. I would try to see if there is a reason he can't nap somewhere else. If the only reason he comes to your office is because you have a bed, well then they need to find a cot or mat so he can sleep elsewhere.

Unless he NEEDS a nurse to observe him napping, he can be somewhere else with this.

Having said that, I would frequently allow children to nap in my office if they just needed sleep, but if it is everyday I would try to find somewhere else for little man to go. You can't tie up your few resources with a non-nursing issue. And as a parent, I would be irritated if my child were put in the nasty germy nurses office every day just to sleep. It's asking for trouble.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

I am never on board for bringing an otherwise healthy child into an office for scheduled idle time and exposure to fevers, flu, viruses, and whatever germs you happen you have floating around that day. Beyond that, what happens if there is an emergency during naptime? What happens if there is a fire alarm / building evacuation etc? Is he easy to wake up? Do you have other duties during a fire alarm/ ect that would get hampered by now having to contend with having to wake a child with a scheduled nap time?

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NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!!!

The clinic during cold and flu season is not the place for a healthy child to nap in daily. Plus, what if you get called out of your clinic for an emergency??? Who supervises him then??

This is not a medical problem, it is a problem that SPED needs to handle.

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Thank you all! My line of thinking was the same, but I am just so unsure how things "work" in this school system. I now feel I definitely need to have a conversation with my principle and bring up all of these very valid points :)

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

Remind admin what they would think if this was their child...daily exposure to every bug on campus.

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Specializes in School health, Maternal-Newborn.

As a sub I would be VERY unhappy with this set up. beyond all the infection control issues I wouldn't know the child and would be very unprepared to deal with behaviors.

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Specializes in School Nursing.
Hello all,

I have been lurking this site for a long time and just decided I want to be a part of the conversations that are happening on this site! Lots of good info. Anyways, I work in a very unique school where all of our students are in K. We have about 480 students. This is my first year as a school nurse, with the previous 6 in a mix of psych, med-surg and float pool. I have a student on an IEP who, just as of yesterday, is now planned to take a nap in my office/health room (i dont have a seperate office with a door. Its all one big room....that issue is for another post, because there is ZERO privacy) every day from 1-130. I only have two beds as it is, and only two chairs. With it being flu season I have very often had both beds occupied with sick kids waiting to be picked up, and even more kids sitting in chairs. Is it an appropriate request of administration to #1-use my health room for a nap and #2-make me responsible for this child and his behaviors should be not nap during this time (he gets dropped off in my office and then the behavior support para takes off and Im left to make sure he gets to where he needs to go when he wakes up. Just seems like something a nurse shouldnt be doing but who knows, like I said I am new. any thoughts would be very much appreciated!!

Is his nap a medical need? Does the rest of the class not nap? Is he being ordered to take a nap because he has behavior issues and the mom/doc think he's just over-tired? Maybe all day Kinder is too much for this snowflake?

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Lifelearnings-This nap has not been ordered by a Doctor, rather decided it was best in a meeting which included the principal, teacher, behavioral support paras. Yes it is because of behaviors. But let me tell you, the behavioral para drops him off in my healthroom for "nap time" and then takes off and Im left dealing with him. For example, today, five seconds after she left he said he needed to use the restroom. While in there, he turned on the emergency shower and soaked everything, wouldnt get back into bed, etc etc. I finally just ignored him until he laid down and fell asleep. Aint nobody got time for that.

I emailed our principal, who is very very supportive. She said in the event both of my beds are needed for a sick kiddo, he can curl up on the floor in her office....I requested a plan B and plan C. Not sure why he isnt just in her office to begin with but if this keeps happening, where im left to deal with him, im going to say something again.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

Oh that's lovely! You get to deal with his behaviors AND a parade of sick children. That's fair. It hasn't happened yet, but the universe is just itching to have you deal with his behaviors, a parade of sick kiddos and an emergency call on the other side of the school. I'm hoping for your sanity it doesn't happen. Just curious, is the child's behavioral para 1:1 assigned to him? If so then where does this person go when he naps? The IEP calling for a 1:1 does not vanish because he is with you. You have every right to ask to see his IEP, especially if he is being left with you for these long stretches.

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