iggywench

All of our annual enrollment has been electronic for several years. I am supposed to print all of the medical forms (which I can access online), and have them available in binders. Since I have over 3300 students this year, I only print the forms for students who have listed health conditions. I'm able to sort that information in Infosnap, our online enrollment software. The problem is that a lot of my parents don't feel the need to do the annual enrollment every year, since their child is in high school, so I feel like a lot of my information isn't current.

I've had a few special needs students in the past for whom I was able to delegate straight cathing. Since it is a clean technique and not a sterile one, it is able to be delegated (after lots of training) in my state. We have a training procedure, as well as a form that both the trainer and trainee sign once training is complete. Actually, in my district, our policy is that staff members are delegated by the principal (with training by me) to do things like administer medications and perform non-sterile procedures.

Trying to catch up here... I went back to work August 1st, and students started August 14th. This is year 12 for me.

In my building of almost 3400 students, I have about 750 students this year with some sort of medical condition (as reported by their parents). I don't write an IHP unless they have a rare condition, something that I might have to deal with at school this year, or the 504 coordinator/diagnostician asks for it. I feel like the action plans provided by the doctor are sufficient in most cases. I will say that I have learned to use ChatGPT to write IHPs for me, and it puts out some pretty good ones. I will copy and paste it into Google Docs, then edit it as I see fit. I like the background info that it gives for different conditions.

Is the Parental Bill of Rights state-specific? I'm in Texas, and I haven't been informed of anything that would affect my practice.

I should not have to remind the teachers at my high school not to send students just to get a snack!

In my district, we cannot give medication that is not FDA-approved, even with doctor's orders. As the school nurse, I have the final say as to whether I am willing to give a medication.

In my district, we wear a red hang tag behind our school ID with "RN" in big white letters on it. Our aides have a green hang tag behind their ID that says "Aide". I feel like they make it easy to distinguish ourselves in the buildings; no one else wears hang tags.

I plan to return next year. I switched to my dream school this past fall, and where my daughter will go to high school in 3 years. My administrators are amazing, and I am looking forward to what a "normal" school year will eventually be without contact tracing. I have 16 more years until retirement, and I hope I can make it! I am on a teacher contract, and we don't get any kind of bonuses or incentives.

My director was able to partner with a local clinic last week, and they offered 80 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the nurses, clinic aides, and athletic trainers in my district. There were also a couple of police officers and district admin who received it after they weren't able to fill all of the slots with medical personnel. My arm was sore and I was tired for a couple of days, but that is all that I experienced.

I am in TX, and received an email about this yesterday. It would appear that we will be doing it here, too. It seems like a good idea, but my concerns (like other previous comments) would be parents sending sick students to school just to be tested, staff members wanting to be tested frequently, and the additional time that testing will take up during the day. Contact tracing is already taking so much of my time this year that I rarely get to talk to the students who come to the clinic for visits. My assistants are handling most of those. If the test takes 15 minutes to develop, and we have multiple students requesting a test at the same time, I don't have room for them. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens...

I lucked out, and convinced the HOSA club to handle the announcements this week. COVID has picked back up here, and I wasn't sure I'd be available to go to the office every day to make the announcement.

I am anxiously awaiting the fallout from Homecoming next weekend. The dance is canceled, but there is still a pep rally and football game. The students are still planning parties, limo rentals, dinners out together, and beach house rentals for the weekend. We'll be lucky if we get to remain in-person after that.

I got the position at my dream school, and now have a 7-minute commute to work! It is the school that my son attended, and my daughter will be here in 3 years. Plus, this campus has supportive admin, the students have manners, and the parents have working phone numbers. We see far fewer students than in years past, too.

Have any of you ever done any Red Ribbon Week presentations? I'm at a large high school in Texas, and the previous nurse would make presentations about different types of drugs during the announcements every day during Red Ribbon Week. What she used was an interview-style presentation with the Student Council President, and I am looking for something that better fits my style. Does anyone have any resources they could throw my way?