Poop Smearing on Bathroom Walls

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I work in an Elementary School and we have found several instances where a little girl has smeared poop on the bathroom wall. Guessing its the same student as it appears to be the same design. As the Nurse, they would like me to address the girls all together and apply some hygiene instruction along with some assertiveness. Any suggestions on how I may go about giving some assertiveness while still making the subject modest???

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Here is what concerns me.....the smearing of feces in school age children can be an indication of child abuse in the home.

[h=3]Signs and Symptoms of Child Abuse[/h]

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

I tend to agree - while it's not pleasant and it's probably preferable to the admins to have you give a lecture to the tune of "poop is yucky, don't play with it." Overall this raises a red flag to me - be it a sign of child abuse or a sign of a possible neurological disorder where the child is looking for tactile stimulation and recreating it with fecal smearing.

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I agree that smearing is typically a much more serious problem than just hygiene issues. It's one thing to not keep yourself clean; it's an entirely different matter to be handling the feces and smearing it on walls.

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and, unless the student is known, ie, has been caught. how do you know it is a girl?

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

can probably tell it's a girl because it's limited to girl's lavatory. My next suggestion to narrow it down would be to have everyone check their student's hands - particularly the nails. Even if they wash up well afterward, it's unlikely that a student will ensure their fingernails are scraped under afterward.

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Specializes in Medical Surgical Telemetry.

I would actually refer the poop smearer to the school psychologist. This type of behavior is associated with multiple psychiatric disorders in children.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.

When I lived on an all girls' floor in college, we had someone who did this in our bathroom. There were only 14 of us and we were all around 19-21. What could that indicate in our age group?

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unless you are monitoring who goes in and out, no telling....

can probably tell it's a girl because it's limited to girl's lavatory. My next suggestion to narrow it down would be to have everyone check their student's hands - particularly the nails. Even if they wash up well afterward, it's unlikely that a student will ensure their fingernails are scraped under afterward.
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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
When I lived on an all girls' floor in college, we had someone who did this in our bathroom. There were only 14 of us and we were all around 19-21. What could that indicate in our age group?

Being a college student.

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Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
Being a college student.

I don't think so...we were all honors students, female, clean appearing. I wonder if it was a cry for help from someone...maybe someone who was abused by a boyfriend or something?

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
I don't think so...we were all honors students, female, clean appearing. I wonder if it was a cry for help from someone...maybe someone who was abused by a boyfriend or something?
Maybe.....but a this age girls will use their diet, anorexia, bulimia, cutting or overt sexual behavior. I'm going to lean towards someone wanting to be a smart aleck or was angry at the house leader/DA (our what ever they call them these days) for instilling rules they didn't like.
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