Parent harassing me in clinic

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I am having a situation at work with a parent (who sadly also happens to be a nurse) harassing me in my clinic. CPS was called on her (not by me) at school and she assumes it was me. Don't get me wrong, I would have reported her if I would have thought there was a reason to, but the child told me they had accidentally hurt themself, then changed the story later in the day. Regardless, now Mom keeps coming into my clinic and spewing hate at me. I am being supported by administration, but the situation makes me feel very uneasy. Has anyone else had to deal with this type of issue? What did you do about it?

The school is getting a better security situation next year, but currently anyone can just walk in the front door and get to my clinic.

I agree with the advice to refuse any more "visits" from this woman, file a police report and report this to the DON. The fact that she has CPS involvement and she is expending time and energy on being hostile toward you says that her focus is on retaliation and blaming others, not doing what's best for her child and being reasonable. The fact that she's a nurse and this is how her mind works makes it unlikely that she is fit to provide safe patient care. She might be OK with patients under normal circumstances, but what if one of them sets her off? It seems that she lacks the self control and perspective to be a nurse or a parent at this time. Your contacting the police and BON won't cause her to lose her child or license; her behavior would be the cause.

Also, I wouldn't disclose who reported her. If she does something horribly violent to that person after learning who it is, you don't want that on your conscience and it could also bring negative attention to you for telling this woman who the informant was.

Good luck- you are also helping to protect this child by not letting this behavior go.

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Specializes in School Nursing.
4 hours ago, SaltineQueen said:

Who is your designee if not the secretary?

The designee would be a clinic assistant. In my school division, no one but the nurse or the clinic assistant will touch the meds. They don't want the responsibility of having to deal with being responsible for the medications, as well as the cfhain of custody with counts for any controlled substances, such as ADD/ADHD medications. The parents need to come in during the times that the nurse is there, or call and see if the nurse can make arrangements to meet before or after school, not just show up and expect the nurse to be there.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Another thing to remember, is that the CPS reporting process is confidential. We do not need to discuss it at all with any parent at all. Our coordinator has a saying tht I really love, " The CPS reporting process is confidential, so I must refer you to the case worker that contacted you. He/She should have left you a card with their number, you need to contact them to gather any information". Leave it at that. You arean't saying a thing, just referring it back to CPS.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
4 hours ago, laflaca said:

IThe principal was like, "Oh yeah. OK. Yeah, I guess that makes sense, I can see your point." Like, it seriously hadn't occurred to him that there might be any problem. We have to advocate for our safe nursing practice and our own safety....no one else is going to do it in a school setting, unfortunately.

"I can see your point"? Gosh, how wonderfully astute of him. Who are these people?

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Specializes in School Nursing.
15 hours ago, TriciaJ said:

"I can see your point"? Gosh, how wonderfully astute of him. Who are these people?

The same people that work as administrators in my building..LOL, and every other school building... They just don't get it!

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On 2/25/2020 at 8:59 AM, tining said:

Well I was just in a heated (her not me) conversation with a parent at the front desk. I was checking in at secretary desk and she was on the phone with a parent trying to drop off meds. Mom upset that front desk would not accept meds, only RN or designee could accept and I was not here. It was 0740 and I actually don't have to be here until 0815. Mom wanted to know my back-up, which I told her. Mom wanted policy, which of course states only RN or designee can accept. Mom wants convenience prioritized over policy. Now wants to meet with me and principal. What is interesting is I have always had a good relationship with this parent. This is out of the blue.

Curious as to what time school actually starts??

Here is the deal, if you start being there at 7:40 for med drop off - then, she will want to drop off at 7:20 and the slippery slope begins. Therefore, I sure hope your admin stays strong.

I had a parent angry at me for the same reason earlier this year. She got over it and made necessary arrangments

No way I am I getting here any earlier just to make it more convenient for a parent. Hey, kids are inconvenient - should have thought about that before you had them!I already work 8:00 (kids start at 8:45)-4:30 with no lunch break or planning period.

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.
17 hours ago, EnoughWithTheIce said:

Hey, kids are inconvenient - should have thought about that before you had them!

THIS!! We are a selfish society spoiling our kids materially and starving them from attention.

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Specializes in School Nurse.
18 hours ago, EnoughWithTheIce said:

Curious as to what time school actually starts??

Here is the deal, if you start being there at 7:40 for med drop off - then, she will want to drop off at 7:20 and the slippery slope begins. Therefore, I sure hope your admin stays strong.

I had a parent angry at me for the same reason earlier this year. She got over it and made necessary arrangments

No way I am I getting here any earlier just to make it more convenient for a parent. Hey, kids are inconvenient - should have thought about that before you had them!I already work 8:00 (kids start at 8:45)-4:30 with no lunch break or planning period.

I do not announce I am here early to the parents to be sure! I have 2 railroad tracks that can hold me up and to avoid actually being late, I come when I sort of know the trains have passed or haven't come yet. I took an idea from BeckyESRN and now will have available admin accept meds. This is the first time in 2 years this has happened and yet the parent was irate. I chalked it up to mom having a bad day before this!

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Specializes in School Nursing.
On 2/22/2020 at 10:34 AM, KiddoRN73 said:

I am having a situation at work with a parent (who sadly also happens to be a nurse) harassing me in my clinic. CPS was called on her (not by me) at school and she assumes it was me. Don't get me wrong, I would have reported her if I would have thought there was a reason to, but the child told me they had accidentally hurt themself, then changed the story later in the day. Regardless, now Mom keeps coming into my clinic and spewing hate at me. I am being supported by administration, but the situation makes me feel very uneasy. Has anyone else had to deal with this type of issue? What did you do about it?

The school is getting a better security situation next year, but currently anyone can just walk in the front door and get to my clinic.

I was just discussing this with a co-worker. I have had this same situation before. If a CPS report is made the parent always assumes it was the nurse. What an uneasy feeling to have when a parent walks in and demands to know why a call was made! One of the scariest parts of my job.

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