Parents sending kids to you before the bell

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This is my first year of school nursing. And I have had several students coming in to see me before the bell rings in the morning saying.....my mom wants you to look at my throat and tell me if I can stay. Some parents walk in and ask if their child should stay. I repeat POLICY OVER AND OVER AGAIN....and sent out a flyer with the policy at the beginning of school and AGAIN right before winter started.

Do you get a lot of this before school? How do you handle this?

I will say I once had a situation like this. Turns out kid gets extremely carsick and commute to sick that morning with traffic filled and very stop and go. Kid did vomit once in school shortly after arriving, but was fine after being out of the car for about 20 minutes. Mom was very apologetic, however, and explained.

Now every other time I've had a kid arrive to school telling me they vomited at home just before leaving school AND their parent was aware...

That's a good point (car sickness) but it was definitely not the case here. This poor kid walked in green in the face. The ridiculous thing is that she had already been vomiting that morning. She lives with her grandmother but gets picked up/dropped off her grandmother's friend. So 2 grandmother's were aware that she was vomiting and both decided it was ok to bring her to school. Poor kid was miserable.

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Yes, I do and it annoys me to no end. I, too, have send out flyers, put on our website and in our newsletter what our policies are. If the student appears in front of me, I'll call the parent and recommend they call their doctor; if they're not sure they should probably have kept the child home, that it's not my call whether or not their child is well enough to come to school that day. Be a PARENT, for goodness sake!!!!

mc3:cat:

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I get letters from parents that say " please call me at work if you see Billy, I will just come get him"

And of course.....here comes Billy at 8:02 a.m. ready to see the nurse. :banghead:

Aaarghh!!! Why did they send you to school, then? Actually, I figured out why. Usually the student is a frequent absentee..if they're kept home from school it's an unexcused absence. If I send them home at 8:02, then the absence doesn't count against them.

I also love the "Mom told me to see you and you'd call her to pick me up" story. No temp, no cough, no nothing other than not wanting to be in school. My response is that Mom probably surely meant to call IF you had a fever or were throwing up; see how you do....

mc3 :banghead:

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Dreading tomorrow. Mondays are always nutty, but the Monday after a vacation week is always full of tears and exhaustion. (And sometimes it's the kids too. Hahahahaaa!)

But really, this should be interesting.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
Dreading tomorrow. Mondays are always nutty, but the Monday after a vacation week is always full of tears and exhaustion. (And sometimes it's the kids too. Hahahahaaa!)

I can relate - it's like the school day can't begin if the school nurse isn't there.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Gastroenterology, School Nrs.
i call that the get out of jail free card - and i will tell parents that - "Billy is down here cashing in his get out of jail free card - i am guessing you just got to work - he's saying he is too sick to stay" You can usually feel the regret coming through over the phone line.

That's what I call them too :) SO funny!

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

my question is why does no one in town but me seem to own a working thermometer? they're like 10 bucks at walmart- 3 bucks if you don't want anything fancy

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Specializes in School nursing.
my question is why does no one in town but me seem to own a working thermometer? they're like 10 bucks at walmart- 3 bucks if you don't want anything fancy

THIS. Because I have had a variation of this scenario more times than I would like:

Student comes in, very pale. First bell rings at 8, current time is ~7:58.

"I was absent yesterday because I had chills and didn't feel well."

"Well, did you have a fever?"

"I dunno, we don't have a thermometer. My mom said I felt hot yesterday, but today I don't. So she told me I had to come to school, but if I don't feel well to see you."

- I check the temp. It's 101. :banghead:

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I have started to call those parents of kids that walk straight into my office as soon as the bell rings - most of the time the parents had no idea the kid was feeling bad and will make them try and stay.

Those kids with truancy issues - once they get to the point where they can't miss school unless I send them home or they have a doctors note I just follow our policy regarding sending them home. They only get a "nurse sent home" pass if they have fever, vomiting or diarrhea - all other symptoms (headache, general not feeling well etc) parents must take them to doctor to get that note.

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