Parents who are Doctors

Specialties School

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Hi Guys! Just checking to see how you deal with parents that are physicians. I work in an expensive private school and deal with parents of many job backgrounds which include many physicians. Some are nice and some are not so nice. Am I the only one who feels a twinge of anxiety in speaking to these parents? Usually they ask their child's symptoms and are either are accommodating in picking them up or are very aggressive in refuting your findings and insist on not picking them up. While I always reference our school policy, I'm curious to see how others handle these parents. Do you ever defer to their opinions since they are practicing physicians?

Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.
Quite the heartfelt and honest post!! You need to hang around here more often.

Dawwwww, that's really kind. I lurk on here a lot bc it really does help me be a better school parent with one kiddo in elementary & one in middle. School nurses, my hat is OFF TO YOU.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Not a physician, but this FNP will certainly raise her hand. My kiddo was sick about a month ago and my list of differentials was strep vs. flu....didn't even occur to me that my 13yo could have mono despite being the perfect age for it, until a family practice friend pointed it out on social media. It ended up being strep, but I totally missed what could've been a big miss, and when I'm in clinic I always include it in my differentials when I work someone up for strep!

So yeah, we really do lose a bit of objectivity when we're out of our familiar clinical environment.

I might have mentioned this in another post, but I once attended a telephone triage conference and met some seasoned tel. triage nurses. They stated that it is not unusual for pediatricians to call the nurse advice line for advice about their own kids.

I guess it's just hard to be your objective clinical self when it's your own kid.

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I am at a private boarding school and have had a lot of parents who are docs thinking their kids should be exempt from following typical procedures. ex- concussion protocol... parent hasn't actually seen their kid "but knows that they aren't really concussed and should be returned to play"... ummm, nope sorry! Still need to follow the same rules...

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Specializes in kids.

And then the flip side...I have a few that are absolutely awesome!!! One will come in and do a physical to clear a kid for sports, so that barrier is eliminated. No charge. Another will write for our epipens. Others are available for consult as needed.

I try to make the best of my resources and grease the wheel...

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Funny, I can relate to both sides. I am a PNP and my husband in an allergist, so double-boarded in Peds and Adult. He nearly ALWAYS defers to me when our kids are sick. He tends to be the one who wants me to bring them in to be seen when I think three days of 103 fever is NBD if otherwise they seem fine :whistling: Interestingly, I will have to tell him that they cannot go to school tomorrow because they had a temp of 100.6 that afternoon and it is school policy, which he doesn't understand when they otherwise seem fine.

So, I guess as a school nurse I always follow the rules, but many times my PNP brain is throwing around differentials that make me want to let things play out a few days to rule them out before bothering with a visit to the Ped where they always end up picking up something worse than what they came in with. I am the main contact for my kids when they are ill so usually whatever the school nurse tells me, I am happy to do. I had ONE exception where school made me pick my daughter up for "a couple of nits" back in September. Nurse was unavailable to speak with and I was mad, but I went and got her. Turns out the school counselor was the one who told the secretary to call me b/c the nurse was out for the day so she didn't realize that my daughter could have stayed.

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
Dawwwww, that's really kind. I lurk on here a lot bc it really does help me be a better school parent with one kiddo in elementary & one in middle. School nurses, my hat is OFF TO YOU.

THIS!!! Thank you so much.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

i have a parent that is a chiropractor. she is over cautious when it comes to getting her children. If i ask, she will come.

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Specializes in School nursing.
Funny, I can relate to both sides. I am a PNP and my husband in an allergist, so double-boarded in Peds and Adult. He nearly ALWAYS defers to me when our kids are sick. He tends to be the one who wants me to bring them in to be seen when I think three days of 103 fever is NBD if otherwise they seem fine :whistling: Interestingly, I will have to tell him that they cannot go to school tomorrow because they had a temp of 100.6 that afternoon and it is school policy, which he doesn't understand when they otherwise seem fine.

So, I guess as a school nurse I always follow the rules, but many times my PNP brain is throwing around differentials that make me want to let things play out a few days to rule them out before bothering with a visit to the Ped where they always end up picking up something worse than what they came in with. I am the main contact for my kids when they are ill so usually whatever the school nurse tells me, I am happy to do. I had ONE exception where school made me pick my daughter up for "a couple of nits" back in September. Nurse was unavailable to speak with and I was mad, but I went and got her. Turns out the school counselor was the one who told the secretary to call me b/c the nurse was out for the day so she didn't realize that my daughter could have stayed.

My favorite parents are fellow school nurse parents. I have a few of them and they know if I am making the call, it is legit and respect it. I called one of those parents when their child was non-stop coughing to the point where the poor thing could not get anything done and was just miserable. I knew kid had been to the doctor, but school was still not a great place for her that day. Mom respected my call, appreciated it, and child was picked up.

As for doctor parents - as I said up thread, they can forget medical knowledge when it comes to their kid. Or their specialty isn't pediatrics and they know it and respect their knowledge may be different when it comes to kids. I've had doctor parents send a kid to school and call me asking to check it because I am the one that works with kids and they aren't, so they'd like and appreciate my assessment. I've actually been lucky and had wonderful relationship with doctor parents. But I don't have a ton of them in my district, however.

Now nurse (non-school nurse) parents - that is a mixed bag.

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There is a lot to be said for giving private school parents leeway (not that I agree with it). I work in public school but the camp I worked at last summer (and will be returning to) has a pretty wealthy population and I was overruled a few times for things that were deemed too inconventient by the camp director for parents that were paying $11,000 for their child to be at camp.

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.
There is a lot to be said for giving private school parents leeway (not that I agree with it). I work in public school but the camp I worked at last summer (and will be returning to) has a pretty wealthy population and I was overruled a few times for things that were deemed too inconventient by the camp director for parents that were paying $11,000 for their child to be at camp.

The politics of private school can really be aggravating.

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Specializes in kids.
i have a parent that is a chiropractor. she is over cautious when it comes to getting her children. If i ask, she will come.

My chiropracter parents are almost universally against immunizations....

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Specializes in School nursing.
My chiropracter parents are almost universally against immunizations....

Interesting.

Side note, slightly off-topic but not: I have a friend who is a NP take her 5 month child to a chiropractor for an adjustment to help with frequent recent illness/ear infections. I had admittedly never heard of such a thing. And then I started to do research. And I wish I hadn't started...

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