Never ending lice!!

Specialties School

Published

Just curious because this is my first year as a school nurse. Is this normally a never ending problem???

I have parents call all the time concerned because their student has lice for the 2nd time this year and want to know what we are doing about this problem.

We have a no nit policy (which I do not like). But we send kids home with any nits and they must be rechecked and nit free to come back to school. And it still seems like we always have a lice problem!!

Is this normal at an Elementary? Or is there something else we should/shouldn't be doing?

Thanks!

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
If a parent calls in and reports that their child has been treated for lice, do you check the child's head?

No....

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Specializes in School Nursing, Telemetry.

Our policy was upheld! :up: Our physician spoke and my fellow nurse who has been here for 20 years spoke a little about the history of our "lice battle" (from the time when we did all school screens three times a year with volunteer parent groups), to no-nit, to our new evidence-based policy and reiterated that while we created a lot of absenteeism and social stigma, we didn't stop lice then and won't now. The board told us that her talk really was what sealed the deal! I had this really immature moment where I yearned to yell "in your face!" at the teacher who has been giving me a lot of trouble. I have held it in thus far. I am just so glad that we can put this behind us and hopefully keep our kids in school without all the battles.

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Specializes in DD, PD/Agency Peds, School Sites.
Our policy was upheld! :up:

Excellent! I was wondering about the outcome. Whoop!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Oncology, School Nursing, OB.

I remember being new and shocked at the lice that never seems to end! We used to have a no nit policy but it's now a no lice policy. That has helped a lot with absenteeism and has not increased our lice problem one bit.

The biggest misconception from the public is the kids get it from school. Most do NOT! They get it from other extended family or sleepovers or not treating it right the first time. Whenever parents used to call and say their child got it from school and asked me to check their class I would and usually no one else had it. After years of this I don't check unless we have at least 2 cases and 9/10 times its still usually only those two cases and no one else. There are certain families that keep it. A lot of them do not have running water, a washer or dryer, a vaccum, etc so it's difficult to get rid of it. We once had a lice resource officer who would help families like that get rid of it only to have those parents expect her to do all the work or get it from extended family. I've found the best way to stay on top of it is to routinely check those who have it all year long every 2 weeks. We've kept kids from missing school this way because we can help the parent keep on top of it and make sure they are getting treated before it gets out of hand. I feel bad for the kids who have to live with this.

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Specializes in Ortho.

Speak of the Devil. They just came out with an article about lice. https://allnurses.com/camp-nursing/lice-everything-you-983887.html

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