ABRN2012

State is MS I have been a school nurse 8 years and I am on a teachers scale. Sadly our teachers are the lowest paid. But I do make 35,500 a year. I work the same schedule as the teachers and same benefits so I is worth it to me.

Had a parent come in with a student for a headlice recheck. Student had headlice a few weeks ago too so I told the teacher when we sent her home that she probably never truly got rid of it because if they left a nit the whole process started over. The parent states that she is getting this from someone in her class because her teacher told her that another girl in there keeps headlice! HELLO! Privacy invasion much? I am so livid right now. I politely told the mom that the teacher is not supposed to tell her about any other students in her class and that her child most likely never got rid of the problem from the first go round and we need to just focus on our OWN children! I had a talk with the principle about said teacher but I know nothing will be done about it. C'mon now!

I'm so sorry you get treated that way. And it is sad that so many of us share the same story. I have decided not to return next year. I thought about telling my supervisor and seeing if anything might change but deep down I know it won't. You can not make people respect you. And the old saying you earn the respect you give out is not true in every case. I am the kind of person that treats the janitors with the same respect as the superintendent. But as far as how I am treated, the janitors get more acknowledgment and respect than I do. Heck they get multiple breaks and uninterrupted lunch breaks everyday! But I have learned most of my problems are because of me and that I have not put my foot down on things. I do not stand my ground with teachers or parents or admin. I am not confrontational enough when I should be. And I am the one who is not going to change that part so it is better for me to move onto the next stage of my life. I have always loved getting to work with kids. I love the school schedule and it really does have some wonderful perks but the bad has finally outweighed the good so I had to make my own decision. I hope things do improve for you all in similar situations though.

Well you have to be appreciated for anyone to acknowledge you during Nurses Appreciation Week. And it doesn't help that its also Teacher Appreciation Week. So I will not hold my breath for anything even a "Thank You" is too much to ask around here. But I appreciate you all so "Happy Nurses Week!"

My own bathroom or at least a sink so I could wash my hands xray vision or xray machine a thermometer for every teacher (not that some of them would dare to use it) one of those vision screening machines the kids just look into a dr or nurse practitioner to run a little clinic with me in the school so that some of these kids would actually see a provider

I agree you can't reason with an admin that would do this and think it is ok. As a former breastfeeder/pumper I agree that the teacher needs a private space but that doesnt mean your office. Unfortunately its more a disrespect issue than anything. My approach would be to talk with the teacher and explain your diabetics schedule and that she will need to work her pumping around this. She will probably understand and if she doesn't then you will need to go over her and admins heads. I would address the issue of all the germs and creepy crawlies in the health office. I know my teachers and there is no way any of them would even agree to pumping in here. They tiptoe in my office now and ask if there has been a sick kid in here recently or is there lice on this recovery bench. Is there not a conference room that is rarely used that they could let her use? Crazy how times have changed in a decade when I pumped. I worked in a greasy car garage and even my office was oily and greasy. And No way was I pumping in a nasty mechanic bathroom. I didn't make a fuss about it though. I bought a car charging adapter for my pump and used my nursing cover and pumped away in my car. It was a lot more private than my office and cleaner. But breastfeeding support has come along way. Bottom line teacher has the right to a private adequate space but the health office/your office is not it!

I treat that like I do with a lot of other things. I will let them apply some the first time. Then I explain that from now on that will need to be taken care of at home. That is how I do it with bandaids. If you get a cut at school I will give you a bandaid. If you come in everyday for a bandaid for a 3 day old scab you got from home then no you will need to do that at home. I will put hydrocortisone on a bug bit one time then we either have to deal with the itching or your parents can apply something at home. I try to base my rationale on is this a home problem or a school problem. But to answer your question yes I might let them apply it with my supervision one time while I assess for infection and proper care.

My student with diabetes at the elementary school likes to tell me how to do my job. Now mind you he is capable of doing everything himself and I am only to observe, the pump figures the insulin so its pretty simple. But he takes forever and I realized it was less class time missed if I just laid everything out for him while he washes his hands. Even if he has washed his hands he will stand there and wait on me to get everything laid out he taps his foot!!!!! A lot of times I am also either talking to a teacher or dealing with something else so if I forget to open the alcohol pad or get the carb count paper out of the lunch box he will say "You are falling down on the job!" A couple of days ago I was dealing with another issue and instead of being at his class for his morning check at 8:40 I was there about 8:50. He throws his pod at me and says "What took so long?" Oh my! I can tell that my temper is getting better because I actually was very stern but nice in my response to him. Needless to say I am planning on a meeting with his parents and teachers after this semester and we are going to change the way we do things around here.

The others are right you can't care more than the student or the parent. It is hard but I have learned that the hard way over the years. If you are documenting and trying all that then it seems like a CPS call for medical neglect is warranted. Sorry you are having to deal with this. But sadly it is very common these days.

WHAT!!!!???? Where do I sign up? Seriously thats crazy that is even a thing. Sadly we have a lice treatment place close by but even people who can afford it wont pay the money. So even if I did get certified people prolly wouldnt pay me.

Yeah truthfully I shouldnt have been surprised but I guess it caught me off guard that the other two schools in the county had their teachers not only present but literally so excited and thankful for the experience. But of course my school is different. And I have seen the same things go on at "grandparents day" or any holiday event. The lunch ladies and office staff along with myself will sit with those students without anyone but very rarely is there a teacher sitting with one.

Thanks for the input but I am not a rookie. I do staff developments several times a year and they are always good. The point of the post was not that it was for staff development but that they should have stayed with their students like they do for most assemblies. I was not the one who had an decision making in their having a planning period during that time. That was the principals decision and she asked them to come back to the assembly and they left after 2 min. My point was if you are trying to be a role model for your students I wouldnt think leaving during an assembly while a speaker was talking to you is a very good decision. But again thanks for your input.

Sorry just need to vent. Since school started in August I have been in contact with our Dept of Ed. to get a program to come to our school that promotes physical education and getting children up and moving in the classroom. It has been very stressful trying to get everything in order for them to come and it is a BIG DEAL. Schools are on a waiting list to get them to come and do a live show. Anyway the whole point is to show teachers how to integrate the 5 min videos into their classrooms to get children to move around and let some energy out. They have a presenter that is a coach and he leads the students in short 5 min videos to exercise. My 1st and 2nd grade teachers dropped their kids off in the gym and went back for their "planning period". The speaker was there to talk to them just as much as the kids. So I asked the principal to call the teachers to the gym which she did and after the speaker raved and thanked teachers for all they do they got up right in the middle of it and left! They stayed barely 3 minutes. I was mortified. Some of them even expressing how they didnt have time for this and this was their planning period. Needless to say I was HOT! I understand that was your planning period but one day isnt going to kill anyone and what an example you set for your students that someone trying to teach them to be healthy and how to do better in school isnt worth the time. Do I get a planning period? Do I get to eat my lunch most days without interruption? NO! And on top of it this presenter was at our other local schools and all the teachers were raving about it. So of course my school has to be rude. This program when implemented daily in the classroom has been shown to aid in higher test scores, better focusing, less test anxiety, and a drastic decrease in behavior problems. So it was worth the 30 min to be present. And some of the teachers couldnt even do the little movements with their students and just sat there. Which is a whole other rant so I wont even start.

I swear this sounds like something that would happen to me at my schools! I am so glad the child was ok. And I am glad you addressed it because if it happened this time it will happen again. I know we all feel honored that they value our opinion but that could have went so many ways of wrong "waiting on the school nurse to check her out." I am rolling my eyes and shaking my head! But like someone else said I believe it was a way to push responsibility to you and off of them. When in reality it doesnt work that way. I can't make my district realize that I am not an on call nurse either. And it is easy to say "Just don't answer your phone." Most people can do that. I on the other handle would freak if I didnt answer a work call at anytime. They call my personal cell all the time. It drives me insane. But it wont stop. No matter how many times I address it. They call me when I am not on campus, they call me when I havent even clocked in yet and they call me after I have left. I really do feel for you! You handled the situation very well.

I just had a perfect example of our frustrations and why others not in school nursing dont get it. I had a teacher almost pass out today in the bathroom. After assessing the situation and getting her into my office I noticed she was having some kind of neurological event (hands drawing, unable to open mouth very wide, numbness and tingling her words were not coming out right). We called an ambulance and Im trying to get all the necessary data from her along with BP, pulse, O2, ect. And I am also trying to console her and tell her shes ok. She begins having another attack and we have to get her out of the wheelchair and onto my recovery couch. And then in walks "little Johnny" a kindergartner that I see pretty frequently for sleeping in class, or being too sweaty, or having a red face (he has anger issues). He is covered in mud and states he fell in a mud-hole. He just bypassed all the people in my room and the teacher in distress and sits down expecting me to clean him up and change his clothes. His teacher is nowhere to be found. I guess he walked all the way to my office by himself. Heck he should know where it is as much as I see him. Now normally I have no problem dealing with this but at this time I am trying to make sure this teacher is ok and surely someone without a nursing degree could have found him some more clothes and told him to go to the bathroom and wash his hands. But no it is the nurses problem regardless if she is trying to keep someone alive or not. Thankfully I managed to do it all...once again!