Out Of Office sign?

[2ndgenschoolnurse]

I work in an elementary school, where the former nurse NEVER left her office ...really I am not joking, when I go out for a classroom visit, or to just walk around the halls, they question what is wrong, why am I out!! I even have to eat my lunch in my office! (which really is ok, most days) Here is my question, when you leave your office for a bit or a while, do you put up a sign telling the students to check the main office if your not there? Do you have any suggestions of simple easily understood for K-2 students? Thanks!

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I used to, but I found that no one reads it anyway (students and staff alike!) They would still always ask the secretary where I was, so I gave up on it.

One thing that I insist on is eating lunch outside my office. All I need is a kid coming in and coughing all over my salad or puking into my trash can while I am trying to finish my tuna! I eat in the break room after all the student lunch periods are over and I take my full 30 minutes about 75% of the time. Of course, if there is an emergency I am available. Otherwise, the office staff is well trained to tell the kids to come back in 30 minutes.

I have only skipped lunch a handful of times (really busy days) and only twice have I eaten in my office.

[missfixit]

I have signs that I put on my door. Down loaded them from Geri Harvey's website- www.homestead.com I think it works pretty well-- not sure the kids can all read them, so if I return to my office and a student is standing by my door, I tell them that if a sign is on my door, it means that you go to the office. It has taken a while but the point is getting across.

I close and lock my office door at lunch- the office will call me if something happens that they can't handle.

[pvtschoolnurse]

I also use the signs from Geri Harvey's website. A teacher suggested that I add a color code to my signs for the "non-readers". I will incorporate that next year probably using a green symbol (come in) and a red symbol (go to the office).

[rdsxfnrn]

Sign on door does not work, they knock anyway, so I lock the door and turn out the light and LEAVE the bldg. Go for a walk or whatever..... (most days, no lunch today so I leaving 1/2 hr early)

[luvschoolnursing, LPN]

I have a sign on my door "The nurse is at lunch 7th period every day. If you have an emergency, go to the office, if not, come back 8th period." Of course, there are often "emergencies" anything from stomachaches to tampons, but I do my best. And yes, I do leave bandaids and tampons supplies in the main office, but the office staff usually just call me rather than ask the kid what they need. I still get my full lunch most days.

[JudithL_in_NH]

I have a red sign in the silhouette of a stop sign, stating

"The nurse is away, return to class." (Our office does not handle any nursing care.)

At the beginning of each year the teachers are reminded to teach the children that the stop sign means go back to class, even the pre-readers. Some bring the little ones on a "tour" the first few days of school, and I reinforce that.

Teachers also know that for anything that appears emergent, at any time, they need to have the office contact me by walkie or overhead page--and not to have the child walk to my office unannounced.

[Nurse_Ziba]

For safety reason, I put a sign on my door before I leave. That way in case something happens I could say that hey I put a sign on my door and you could have read it instead of complaining why I didn't tell you where I was. They used to not read it too but eventually they got used to it.

I personally made the sign using microsoft word/publisher and had it laminated. If I need to leave the building I would then call the secretary to inform her of my whereabouts so that they could easily locate me in case of emergency.

I eat lunch at the clinic and have no problem with that. :)

Hmmm.. I'm thinking about making a sign stating that "I need 10 minutes of privacy. Unless urgent, please come back later or wait at the bench in front of my office. Thank you."

[LACA, BSN, LPN, RN]

I eat lunch every day with the K and 1st grade teachers from 11-11:30. My door is closed and my light is off and the kids know to go back to class, unless it's urgent, then they go to the office and have the secretary page me on the walkie talkie. If I'm in a classroom doing a presentation and will be out of the office more than a few minutes, I close the door and turn off the light.

If I just run to the bathroom, I leave the door open and the light on because I will be right back. I usually come back to a kiddo sitting in one of the chairs!

I used to do the signs, I had four or five different ones made, but I've kinda gotten away from it. I may start using them again!

[mustlovepoodles, RN]

I'm in my clinic most of the day and when I have to be out and about, I just give the front office a heads-up. I NEVER eat lunch in the clinic.That's the nastiest, germiest place in the whole school! Besides, if I stayed in there to eat my lunch I'd still have students and staff constantly knocking on the door. So I go to the teachers' lounge, which is totally off limits to the kids. The kids know that if they really need something they can go to the front office. My office staff is great. They are very protective of my time and really try not to bother me during lunch. Yesterday I got a call during lunch from a Pediatric Endocrinologist who wanted to discuss my little brittle diabetic girl. The front office refused to call me out of lunch and made them call back later. Oops! I have instructed them to always call me out for asthma, diabetes AND doctors, haha.