... and now for the consequences

Doctors at the pedi urgent care I work at frequently get me to "confirm" lice cases for them; they all know I'm an elementary school nurse and realize I have more experience in this area than they do.

Side story: I still remember the first time I saw live lice. I was working as a sub nurse in a large school (~1400 students) that had a nurse's office that staffed 2 full time RNs. I was covering for one of them on extended medical leave.

The other RN was the best and taught me everything. She had a boy with very long hair and calls me over. She asked me if I've every seen head lice. I say no. She parts the student's hair to show me the finest example of 3 live lice I've ever seen, even after being in school nursing practice for 5+ years.

"Now you have," she told me, "and you'll be able to spot them easily after that." She had me take over that student's assessment and follow-up. She was right.

(We also them had to a head check on three classrooms full of kids because of it. She was fighting a loosing battle with head checks, so I banked that info for later.)

Since we love talking about lice so much... (eyeroll)

I went to a conference last week & learned about a different, evidence-based treatment using Cetaphil! Cheaper than a lot of methods & perfect for those parents who think chemical lice treatments are going to poison their baby's brain. It's an old study...not sure why I'd never heard of it as much as we like to talk about lice.

A Simple Treatment for Head Lice: Dry-On, Suffocation-Based Pediculicide | ELECTRONIC ARTICLES | Pediatrics

https://fsmn.org/sites/default/files/nuvo-method-lice-treatment.pdf

Thanks for sharing, this is promising. I detest chemical treatments. I work with Africans who have told me an effective treatment was to submerge their hair entirely for 10 minutes everyday for 2 weeks.

...and you can't fix that.

...but you can sedate it.

Okay, not in the school setting, and not with families, but a little Benadryl goes a long way sometimes. :-D

Here is THE best consequence. My Principal said that next year, lice will NOT be our school's problem. I will give parent's the details of lice prevention at back to school, putting all responsibility to them to check monthly. I will only check if a teacher has a concern and there will be no emails or classwide checks. We are now the forefront of education AND the forefront of school nursing. Maybe it was worth it...

Skipping school because there's a "lice outbreak"? Put the kid's hair in a braid or high bun and tell her not to touch heads with anyone in class. If you're really concerned do a drugstore lice treatment for fun. I understand that lice is annoying, but COME ON PEOPLE IT ISN'T THAT BIG OF A DEAL.

Infection?

Ah, infection/infestation, potato/po-tah-to, it's all the same...

...to some unnamed "doctor". I wonder they had a Ph.D in Medieval Music History or something...

Can't fix this . . .

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Due to the shaving craze, these may soon be eradicated.