mr.brice

Thank you all for your replies. I agree with all of you that universal precaution must be practiced everytime. However, this doesn't always seem to be the case in Japan. I think I will go ahead and ask the medical team to wear the gloves! even though they might think I'm weird. Thank you all for your help! (Japanese bows) I was schooled over in the US so sometimes it is hard for me to be working in Japan and the Japanese medicine ways. I don't want to say that they are "behind" but sometimes I doubt how things are done over here. FYI--When I was a student, my proctor taught me to taut my gloves to find the veins more easily. Cheers everyone!

Dear :nurse:s What do you think about not wearing gloves during a blood draw? I was taught to always practice universal precaution if you even have a slight chance of being exposed to blood. I'm asking this because we will be have a yearly health check-up at our school in August. The medical team that we are calling does not want to wear gloves for blood draws. It's hard for them to find veins. However, our teachers want the medical team to wear gloves. It's so weird because I would think it wuld be the other way around. The medical team say gloves are not neccessay. What do yo all think? Should I ask the medical team to wear them anyway for thier own good? or tell the teachers that they are not the one in danger of being exposed to blood so don't worry about the medical team not wearing gloves.

We are a private international school (students from about 20 different countries) so we are pretty much on our own. We have to follow the Japanese labor law and geneal school health law but there's not a lot of guidelines out there for international schools It is difficult to find middle grounds between patient diversities and best practices.

Thank you Nurse_Ziba :) I once found out accidently that this student had a herpes simplex infection on the corner of his mouth and he was in school without reporting his condition to the health office. By the time I found it, the blister already had a dry scab on it. His mother got defensive when I called to verify and said that it was none of school bussiness. I am wondering if I should send out a letter at this point....

Hi all:nurse:, At what point do you send out letters to parents with common health conditions such as conjunctivitis, strep throat, impetigo, herpes/cold sore etc...? Is it when it's starting to spread or when first case is reported or found? I try to send out heads-up prevention letters to parents with all contagious conditions. And how do you ask parents to always keep the school informed of any contagious conditions? Please advise:specs:

Thank you firefightingRN!:)

Hello :nurse:s, The previous nurse that worked here left on a bad term and left the school with nothing....I mean nothing! I am having to start from scratch with everything. I finally got the school health forms made and now I am starting to make other various health forms. I was wondering if you could all help me with what to include in different kinds of health forms. Field trip form: I was wondering what do you all include in your school field trip form (day trip, over night trip, oversea trip)? What are the roles and responsibilities of the school nurse when it comes to field trips? School Sports Health Form: Also, what are the health requirements for students if they want to play school sports? Is it the school nurse's job to make another health form/athletic contract form for the athletic director to use? What kinds of questions must be included? New Employee Health Form: They will get their physical exam done but what additional health information do I need to ask? Do you ask them to get a HIV/AIDS blood test? Any input you may have will be appreciated!

Thank you! I will look into it :)

At my school (school of 300, K~12),the parents must call the secretary in the main office for all absences. Then the secretary posts via email "School Bulletin" every morning to all teachers and staff with announcements and today's school attendance. I've asked the secretary to only tell me the reason why these students are absent. The teachers often come to me and request to post the reason why these students are sick. Especially during H1N1 outbreak. They said they want to know the details and see who got the diseases. Personally I don't trust the teachers with student info. so I don't tell them unless they come see me in my office or ask me by email about their students. I beleive that teachers who care about their students will have the initiative to come ask me personally. What do you all think? Do you think I should go ahead and post it on the School Bulletin who are sick with what? This is kind of how our school bulletin attendance section looks like: Attendance: (E= excused absence, U=unexcused absence) K: (Last name) (First name): (E) family reason (Last name) (First name): (E) ill G7: (Last name) (First name): (E) hospitalized (will be gone for a week) G12: (Last Name) (First name): (U) late

Thank you all for your replies!! I would rather have vinyl cots but I have limited budget so I have to work with what I have We don't have a washer so I have to take it home (in a 15 minutes train ride) or have them dry cleaned (which is not cost effeicient). Do you all think that it's worth it to replace my 2 beds and get vinyl cots?

Hi :nurse:s! Can everyone tell me what you do to disinfect the beds in your office? Especially the regular beds (not the bench kind) with mattress, bottom and top sheets with comforters. I try to wash them when they are soiled or during the holidays and I spray the bed with "Resheshu" (kind of like febreze combined with disinfectant sold in Japan) after each student use but I don't know if that is enough? I'm planning on getting some disposable pillow cases. What do you all do at your school?

We are a school of 300 students (K-12). I also don't provide first aid kits in each classrooms. There's one in Montessori (K) classroom and on our school bus. Montessori fist aid kit has bandaids, antiseptic and a thermometer. The bus driver requested only some gloves, bandaids, antiseptic and an emesis bag. I also have a small fisr aid pouch for field trip use only. It has gloves, antiseptic, bandaids, tapes, pen, papers, scissor, safety pins, pads, thermometer, sunblock, disposible splinter kit and gauze. I would rather assess any students, teachers or staff anything more a scratch too. Some teachers intervene too much and take over my role as a school nurse!

wow, thank you all for your kind comments there are good and bad days at work it doesn't help that this school that I work at has no "governance" system in place and things are very screwed up WASC accreditation team is coming next month so I was thnking about asking them for some advices. I got the school nursing: a comprehensiv text today from amazon.co.jp so I will start reading this. Japanese health system is very different from the US so it is hard to implement good ideas that I come up with. I have to renew my CPR cert. next winter and I think I have to fly back to Oregon to do this. I Oregon license is not accepted to work as a unit nurse in Japan. I pretty much have go back to college and take nursing course for 4 years or apply for nursing school. I will definetely check out the school nurse section here! See you there! and again, thank you all for the support!

I'm Japanese, born and grew up in Japan, went to the US at age 14 and then had to go back to Japan 3 years ago because my visa ran out and could not find a job/visa sponsor. Luckily found a job at an international school as a school nurse. I'm currently working as a school nurse at this international school (about 300 students K-12) in Japan for 2 years. Recently, I came to a point where I don't know what I'm doing or what I should be doing as a nurse. I feel frustrated deep inside and I can't seem to get rid of it:crying2: I feel left behind and I also feel extremely lonely being the only school nurse in school. I don't have anybody to share or talk to about nursing and I often feel choked up in my office. I don't have a clue as to what I should do to keep up with my nursing and keep my confidence as a RN. My husband is an American but we have no plan on going back to the States right now. It is difficult for me to keep myself up with license renewal, CE and CPR/AED renewal. I feel like I can do more for this school but I don't know where to start. My Japanese is not good enough to get involved in the nursing community over here. There's not many people out there with similar cases like mine. But I feel like I'm on the edge and needed to share.

[thank you traumahawk99. i cant wait to pass!