BooBooCrew

Are we counting working days or school days? Our lovely district re-did the calendar for the year and pushed us back to June 21st. 45 working days left ?

I am in texas, but thought the same thing about Florida. I am so disappointed in our governor, especially doing this during Spring break when we see a lot of travelers. Thankfully I think our school district will continue to require masks, but if students and their families are exposed everywhere else then I suspect we will see a surge here. JUST when things seemed more manageable. IMO this was his attempt to take the spotlight off the Winter storm energy crisis Texas went through recently.

Judging from the post a few posts down titled "Tired of being the bad guy" I can tell it's been a mess of a year for everyone, not just me and not just Texas. I didn't think I would make it through this year but have talked to my admin team and put a few things in place to at least try to make it survivable until the end of the semester (which is MID-June for us this year ?). I am so very grateful for the vaccines rolling out, but I don't believe there will be enough time between now and August to make a difference in schools. With that in mind, I am curious how many school nurses will be returning to this craziness next year? And if you are, have you been incentivized in any way?

Maybe it's just us in Texas where there's little no concern for the virus and everyone tries to keep it a secret if they feel bad - we have no new cases and only a handful of students with symptoms. That being the case honestly scares me more because I think how much am I missing/not being told?

Yes ma'am!! I love it. I couldn't agree more. If you're not concerned for our health and well-being then I am not concerned about annoying you. Sorry pal.

Yes, absolutely feeling this same way. We have set-up weekly area nurses Microsoft Teams calls (I am in the 14th largest district, so we break up into areas) and that has been so helpful to talk things through, hear what the other nurses are seeing and experiencing and how they handle it. At first I was the one to set-up the calls but after our supervisors saw the demand and desire to have this community call then they took over and expanded it to each area. Point being, if you don't already have something like that going, you could take the initiative to make it happen! As for the conflicting sides - we definitely see that here. Teachers that are nervous and get upset/hold a grudge if the student they to the clinic/isolation room doesn't go home. On the other hand parents who think a runny nose doesn't warrant being sent home from school. I think the resolution I find is this is MY job. I am the only healthcare worker here, and if me making my best nursing judgment calls offends them then that's their perspective and I can't take that personally so long as I know I am doing what I know to be safest for our school, staff, students and families. I keep thinking about our County Judge that has had to make some tough calls as far as shut-downs and what not; he gets all sorts of pushback but he still hold firm to his stance on keeping our county safe. Hope this helps! Hang in there! It's a burning barrel of ? everywhere LOL

From the Texas DSHS Vision Hearing & Spinal Screening Program: The program is currently determining if screening rules will be in effect this year due to the extra challenges to schools posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will notify stakeholders as soon as a decision is reached. In the meantime, for schools who are screening students, please refer to this best practices document for guidance on safely screening children this school year. Based on this. our district has told us to hold off for now and only screen those that are necessary and time constrained.

Same as above. This is an exceptional year and while on a typical day I am of the "butts in seats; you're fine" mentality, this year its option A send home. I am not only trying to keep me safe, but also trying to keep every other staff member safe and this school open for students that need it most. I sent out a letter to parents before school asking them to go to the allergist now before school to get it in writing that their child has severe environmental or seasonal allergies for me to use if/when I need to assess them, but regardless if they're a pretty "wet" kid they gotta go.

We haven't yet heard if we are doing screenings and if so how we are doing them. I had imagined just doing those that actually NEED them for 504/ARD and if a teacher notices something off, but otherwise foregoing the mass screenings. Fingers crossed! Can't imagine getting to 500 kids in the middle of COVID.

WOW! So planning and guidelines CAN be done?! I have spent most of this morning looking over all the resources organized by Massachusetts and am blown away. Thank you @JenTheSchoolRN this information makes my Type-A heart so happy!!

With all that is going on regarding the reopening of schools amidst a global pandemic, I have spent hours reading guidelines and research in preparation to keep me, our students, and our staff as safe and up-to-date as I can. However, much to my disappointment, I have not been asked once by campus administrators to have any input in the health matters of our school. We are having a staff meeting this afternoon over health and safety during reopening and I was not involved with gathering the information to be presented or asked once for my input or consulted whatsoever. It's worth noting this is after explicitly asking to involve me in the planning of day-to-day operations as almost every scenario ends up with the student coming to my office or being assessed by me. I know my principal and her motto is if you're not a teacher you don't exist. That isn't something that bothers me most days, but when the topic at hand is HEALTH and I am deeply involved in the results of the plan, I would think I would be made aware. So, this brings me to you guys - Anyone else experiencing this? If so, how do you handle it? Am I overreacting? Thoughts??

@ruby_jane @k1p1ssk Interesting! I am in Texas and wonder if we have the same mandate. As you might infer from my questions, we haven't been told anything about anything from our Central Health Services or district leadership. Are you both in Massachusetts? And when you say PPE holding are you referring to a mask and shield or what PPE will you be using? Unfortunately, when our district sent out our PPE for nurses they sent it with that for the janitor and classrooms and didn't designate what was supposed to come to me and therefore it is all now gone.

I love the birthday package idea! I am going to reach out to our PTA about being the facilitators of a "birthday package." Thanks for the idea!!

@FNPLiz5 I actually ended up transferring to UT-Arlington to pursue Nurse Education rather than Midwifery. The BIGGEST challenge with the program has nothing to do with coursework, but rather with securing a preceptor. In your interview, I would mention already having MSN-Midwives lined up to be your preceptor. I would also mention being a self-motivated learner as you will be completely on your own with very minimal instruction. I was surprised to see in the three courses I took at TTU there were hardly any recorded instruction videos by the instructors. It is you and your textbook and that's it. There are academic coaches, but I have yet to find one willing to help as opposed to just giving the simplest, quickest response.

So my question is, what happens to you the nurse? If the whole class has to quarantine after being exposed, would you not have to too if you spent more than 15 min caring for the student?

I just read this article and thought they had some really good points. https://www.npr.org/2020/04/24/842528906/what-it-might-look-like-to-safely-reopen-schools One more... https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2020-05-08/how-school-will-change-when-kids-return-to-classrooms

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for this!! I needed a pep-up reminder!!

Do you have any book recommendations on those pandemics you mentioned? I feel like those would be really interesting reads! @lifelearningrn

Health Fairs Staff immunization clinics 504s and ARDs Specifically nursing professional development Health and Safety Committee Attendance committee The list goes on and on...

For the HAs with no fever I usually ask them how much water they've had today and encourage more no mater what they say. I have a big timer in my clinic and set it for 10 min and tell them they have that long to rest here. Typically before I do that though, I ask what they were working on in class in an attempt to detect avoidance behavior. Almost always, esp. for 3rd grade and up, they end up deciding to leave before the timer goes off. SAs with no other signs - I go full-on nurse here ? I ask "have you pooped today?" If they say yes I ask if it was diarrhea or if it was difficult to get it out. If they say no I ask when the last time was and encourage them to drink water and be active in PE and recess to get things moving. The look on their faces with all this BM talk is priceless! It has definitely cut down and those that don't really have anything going on. I also ask if they've eaten. If they say yes I ask if it made them feel better or worse. If they say no I ask why and also tell them to try to make it to lunch and see if that makes them feel better. If it doesn't, come back and see me. If they are obviously in distress I do the same as the HAs and let them rest 10 min. Teachers and coaches at my school send a kid to me for any. little. bump. It's crazy to me. Did none of them get hurt as a kid?! Kids are rough and get hurt. Not everyone has a broken bone ? This is much more prevalent among teachers who are new and think thie is what they should be doing. Again, if they are not at all in distress and are moving whatever just fine, I tell them they'll be okay and send them on. If I ask what happened and they do a full demonstration by re-rolling their ankle, I tell them their best bet would be to go ahead and stop doing that and their ankle will probably feel better. Most other cases, and especially for the PK, K and 1st graders, I give them ice and tell them to leave it on for 15min.

Oh my goodness YES! I think it's a tie between the monkey bars and the portable steps for causing the most injuries at this school.

That's along the lines of cheap, quick fix I'm looking for ? Thanks!!

It's only 9:25 AM here in grey, dreary Dallas and I have already had two students come in with injuries after slipping and falling on portable building steps. We are WAY too big for our school and have 10 (yes, TEN) portable buildings that have been here over a decade, but were never supposed to stay for more than 6 months. I want to address the issue with our principal and property management personnel, but I'm not sure what to propose. Have any of you dealt with this? Any solutions known to be relatively inexpensive but effective? Thanks y'all!

That's awesome!!!!! Way to go!