PARENTS!!!!

Don't feel so bad we get the blunt of things as usual. Unfortunately, one of my main problem parent was a nurse a few years ago. She wanted me to do hourly assessments on her ADHD 8th grader because he had anger problems and his heart would race at times. I told her I needed a doctor's order and she said I am a nurse you have to do what I request. He would walk out of classes, run down the halls with the AP behind him, the counselor set up time outs for him to go to her for 15 min then to the nurse and then the AP, but they all wanted him to stay with me. Thank goodness I am at another school. The stop and do me syndrome played out in the hospital as well except you weren't put on the spot in the front office. It can be stressful at times because to me school nursing is a nurse/secretary/counselor. You didn't do anything wrong, you had your priorities right. Vision screening is just that-screening out the good from the bad, she just needed to go to the doctor but didn't want to. Chin up!

OH my goodness, that sucks that you have to be treated like a dog. Big time critical care nurse has to rub it in huh. So many things you would like to say, but you can't. I would think middle school is worse than high school as a school nurse. One of the biggest problems is these kids are so spoiled wrotten, they seem to think they are all better than everyone. Probably this kid will learn to treat others like his big time critical care nurse mother. Geez, I worked critical care, let me tell you the hardest job I have ever had is the one I have now, correcting nurses and disciplines work!

I've been met with holier than thou nurses that look down at my choice of career. Sometimes you just have to yes them to death and then chart the heck out of everything. Chin up, you're in good company!

It's funny how this "easy" job has given me more stress than any of my other "real" nursing jobs.. lol

I so agree with ya. Everything I ever did at my "real" nursing jobs *ER, NICU, PICU, L&D* comes to bear in the school. Today I had a mom yell at me when i called to tell her that her child smashed her finger in a door. I didn't think it was broken, but I suggested she make a point to look at it when she got home and take her to a doctor if she's worried about it. Mom launched in to me about how she just moved, they don't have a doctor, blahblah. I told her about a nearby pediatric urgent care just for situations like this. More haranging--did I not know that she doesn't have a car? She can't just take her to to doctor all the time! "Do I have to just walk up there and take care of this??" Uh, no ma'm, I think I've got it covered. Ice and a pat on the head. Mom called back about 10 min later to see if I really sent her darling to class because she just "knew" her daughter would be so upset she'd need to be sent home. For a bruised finger? Puh-leeze.

I have also been dished the put downs from our brothers and sisters in acute care.

I respond along the lines of :

"I run my own office, an independent nursing practice. I personally affect the health of XXXX students and XXX staff and faculty. Any child who is in the ER or ICU, is going to be in school the next day, 2 weeks or a month, many with the same level of care they received at the hospital. I care for kids with Diabetes, seizures, asthma, and anaphylactic food allergies. In my last school, I had two students on ventilators. School nurses keep the public safe by providing surveillance for infectious diseases and enforcing the vaccine adherence for the population. School nurses save lives, without a crash cart or a resident down the corridor, without a CODE BLUE team and the first responders anywhere from 5 - 25 minutes away. Come spend a day with me?"

Thanks Martha! I second that! I call us the McGyver's of Nursing. We keep all of these children and staff members alive everyday, and with what? Band-aids and safety pins! That's about as "real" as it gets! I bet no critical care nurse can make a great finger splint with a tongue blade like we can!

i have also been dished the put downs from our brothers and sisters in acute care.

i respond along the lines of :

"i run my own office, an independent nursing practice. i personally affect the health of xxxx students and xxx staff and faculty. any child who is in the er or icu, is going to be in school the next day, 2 weeks or a month, many with the same level of care they received at the hospital. i care for kids with diabetes, seizures, asthma, and anaphylactic food allergies. in my last school, i had two students on ventilators. school nurses keep the public safe by providing surveillance for infectious diseases and enforcing the vaccine adherence for the population. school nurses save lives, without a crash cart or a resident down the corridor, without a code blue team and the first responders anywhere from 5 - 25 minutes away. come spend a day with me?"

hurray martha........that's the first time i have seen you get "your dander up"

praiser :redbeathe

lol I LOVE it!!! I wish i could say that!!

I think that we as a profession need to be kind to one another. We have been there, and done that. School nurses know their stuff and keep the kids safe and healthy. Critical care nurses know their stuff, which is not the same as school nurses. Let's just give each other some slack!

I have been in this situation about 10 times as the newest nurse in the district...and when a parent nurse starts in on me, I play to their "strength" and "commiserate" with them...saying oh I didn't realize you are a critical care nurse or your experience is in blank blank and blank...so you know how "critical" this could potentially be, you understand what signs and symptoms he is showing and how I need to document your understanding for my chart. All of a sudden they realize we are all nurses under the scrutiny and lack of appreciation from others! We know nurses eat our own kind before we look for anything else, remember being a new nurse on the floor and the "old timers" givning us hell. Parents can be VERY difficult at times, I know we don't get enough appreciation for what we deal with in a day...it is just looking at bugs (head lice) and washin' booboos right! (I actually had a peer say that to me...) So I gave her the gory version of my day...yea looking at head lice is great fun! But, then I got to fight with the parent who didn't want to pick her up because I didn't know what I was looking at, so I picked one off of her head and taped it up all nice...As that was going on I had a teacher bring me a student vomitting into a garbage can and then the teacher ran out of my office as quick as she could and 2 bloody noses that I got to pinch...and...I usually get stopped there and apologies come...Nobody realizes what we go through until we share it! It is true there are days that I can relax...but the reason I love this job is that it is NEVER predictable!! And that smile looking up to me saying thanks is pricelss.

Parents are the absoulte worst part of my job. It seems like there is always someone complaining about something! And its not because I am a bad nurse! I go above and beyond in my job to do a good job for the kids, the teachers, and the parents. Someone mentioned the kids are spoiled, well I think the parents are as equally spoiled. I just cant take it anymore.

You are only hearing from the ones who have a gripe, on the day they have a gripe. Do a survey of parent satisfaction. i am not aware of any nurse who has conducted a parent satisfaction survey who received less than a 96% satisfaction rate

NASN ran an article in June 2009 in the Journal of School Nursing on:

Evaluating Parent Satisfaction of School Nursing Services

http://jsn.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/25/3/205