elwood91

I have been a school nurse for five years, I serve five schools. So as you can imagine I have had almost all types of conversations with families about head lice. Responses vary; denial, anger, frustration, flat out abuse! This week was interesting: I had a head lice outbreak in a self-contained special education room. I was concerned because in this room there were modes of transmission and it was obviously an outbreak! So I treaded cautiously as I made the calls. To my surprise the parents that I spoke with were the most accepting of the situation and my help/information of any I have ever come across. This despite in one case, having to secure a sedative from the pediatrician for a student with autism so that they could be treated. I am constantly amazed at special needs families. I would have understood if they had yelled at me or vented frustration (the typical parent response). Yet, they were the best and offered an attitude that is impossible not to learn from. That is one reason I love this job (and some weeks I must remind myself)!

Thank you for responding to my post. Maybe I can't do everything I would like serving 2700 students; you do have to focus on the essentials... and with five schools that is a daily juggling act, especially given that this is my first year. I know that many, many school nurses serve the number of students that I do (1:750 sounds like an alternate universe); so I am wondering at the higher ratios do you all feel that you are just covering the basic essentials of the job or is it possible to add value to your schools by teaching health promotion, making personal connections with students, etc? Any more thoughts? Thanks

I am a newbie school nurse;I have five schools (three elementary,one Middle, and a small HS program) Aside from being overwhelmed with the sheer number of students that I serve and the amount of need out there I think that generally I'm doing ok (at least most days!) One thing I am having trouble with is determining my role in each of these schools. Most of my schools are used to not having the nurse in the building, (there is no place to sit, no computer or phone to use, and the healthrooms are small often multi-purpose spaces); I get the feeling that at least one of my schools would prefer a "hands off" /consultative approach. My problem is that this is not the type of school nurse I want to be! How can I accurately assess the needs of the school if I spend no time there? The majority of nurses I work with fill a more consultative role. I am wondering, is that the way to survive this long term, or should I keep trying to establish my own way to do this? If so, what are some good approaches to use ? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

There does seem to be lots of uproar when CMV comes up; in actuality a majority of adults have been exposed to this virus already. A teacher who is pregnant or wanting to be should talk with their Dr. and have a titer drawn; if they've already been exposed there is no risk. If they haven't been exposed there is still very little risk if standard precautions are used. In a school setting all body fluids (which might contain CMV or anything else) should be handled properly. This makes me wonder why it is known that a particular child has CMV. In a classroom there could be many children who have had CMV who are not identified. The purpose of universal precautions is to protect us from potentially infectious material. If using precaution is all that is necessary to protect teachers or other staff then I don't believe that the identity of the child should be revealed. Any other thoughts on this?