heatherrmp

I recently found out from our school counselor that 504 plans had recently changed (in the state of Indiana) and an official diagnosis is no longer required. We do need a note from a provider requesting certain accommodations, however.

This is going to be my next call. I was aware of a prescription shampoo that kills both nits and lice which would be ideal in this situation. There, unfortunately, are no local lice salons (the closest are about an hour away) and this is not a distance that family can drive even if it was paid for.

I like the idea of having family provide the bottle back to the school! The other nurse and I have talked and talked and talked to sibling, mom, dad. They are just not receptive to the information and are seemingly unwilling to comply. When I would do a check, I would show sibling (who would walk student to school) where the nits were and where I had seen a live bug, but sibling was more interested in using her phone at the time.

Yes. Every other day they would come in (MWF) and every time I or our other nurse would see live lice. This family is struggling financially, I believe mom is the only worker as dad is on disability, but they do have medicaid. We are in a very rural area and the docs in the area all accept medicaid so it's not necessarily an access issue (there are two separate providers in town that are w/in walking distance to students home). I am unsure if they have access to running water, but this is something that has been addressed with DCFS multiple times over the last year and we just found out that parents can prevent DCFS from coming into the house sooooo. Student is the youngest of four, with only one other sibling being school aged. Sibling was treated and then head was shaved. I will try to reach out to our local health department as well, to see if they have other options. The last I had heard before break was that parent was discussing pulling student from school which would be the worst option for them as it does not appear as if student would thrive in an at home schooling setting.

I have a student who has been out for two weeks with live lice and nites.They come in to get checked, and we are told the family is treating the house appropriately, as well as treating student, but there is never any change in our assessment when they come to get checked. Do any of you reach out to local pediatricians/family doctors for prescription shampoo? I am at a loss as to how I can help this family further, when we have advised that they reach out to their primary on their own. I feel like we have talked and talked and talked about this with numerous family members and nothing has worked.

Hi all! I am getting ready to decorate the bulletin board in the nurses office for Halloween, and was wondering what kind of creative ideas you all might have or what you have done in the past.

Hi, your long lost triplet here! Same background. I did a lot of peds phone triage, and figured I would be used to angry parents yelling at me all the time, but alas, not something that we ever get used to! All we can do is try out best. I will say we are our own worst critic, but that's because we start to care for these kids as if they were our own. I had a HS'er come down after sustaining a laceration during gym. I bandaged him up, called mom, but was then second guessing whether or not he needed stitches. He was out half the next morning and my paranoia set in even more, thinking I should have recommended an eval (even though the laceration wasn't that deep/stopped bleeding easily, etc). He came to see me later that day and said he "slept in" cause...high schoolers. But it was already healing up nicely! Keep trusting your gut. You got this!

Good morning! Happy first week back to school to those of us lucky enough to go back immediately after the New Year *crying*. I had a 5th grade teacher approach me about doing the puberty talk. She said the previous school nurse (who had been here for 45 years) would delegate the talk to the teachers, however she would always have packs of deodorants and pads for the students. This is my first year with school nursing (technically the assistant nurse, but the head nurse has only been here for a year and she did COVID tracing last year) and I'm not sure what resources are available for this talk. I was on the Always website and they state they no longer offer the pamphlets and freebies, but they make their educational materials available online. Does anyone have any insight to another company? What do you do for the dreaded puberty talk?

Every. Day.

We are not sharing an office space. She is over at the JR/Sr high and I am in the elementary school. It's been a crash course so far this year, coming off of maternity leave and starting right at the start of cold and flu season. It's been nutso! But I will look into a mentorship program, as well as the association for Indiana! Thank you!

One of us. One of us. haha thank you! Those are all great ideas! I've been perusing this message board and am finding lots of helpful hints!

Hi! I have been an RN for a little over three years. Most of my time was spent in a pediatric outpatient clinic where I did phone triage. A school nurse position became available over the Summer and I jumped at the opportunity to share the same schedule with my kids. I'm currently on my first day by myself after only a week of "training" and am really just looking for guidance. I am one of two nurses for the school district, and the other nurse seems to want to more of the "behind the scenes" things such as state reporting and checking immunizations while I handle more of the day to day acute things. I guess my question is, what are your best resources or advice that you can provide for a new school nurse who is "faking it" till she "makes it"?

This Thursday is the last round according to the website. So the following Thursday should be when the non-acceptance letters go out!

It sure seems like all the spots have been filled since no one that I know have gotten any letters in the second or third round!

Well, if it's true that the orientation letters get mailed out after the spots are full, spots are not full at the Valpo campus. I was accepted first round and I haven't received any information regarding orientation!