k1p1ssk BSN, RN

I was the queen of visiting the nurse... But I was the kid the nurse had great report with and she kinda just let me do my thing... grab a bandaid, tell her what I needed to feel better, etc. If I was legitimately sick, it was obvious and she'd call my parents/grandparents to come get me without too many questions.

He is on activity restrictions, and our school culture is such that we don't feel its fair to keep a child indoors and isolate him from his friends during recess, that's reserved for punishment (though he is given the option to stay in if he wants). Our recess monitors are very good (as I stated before) and make sure he isn't doing anything unsafe given his current status. I can clarify that no one did anything wrong; The kids were just lined up to come in from recess (just as they would do in the hallway between classrooms) and another child tripped and fell, pushing the child in front of the injured into/onto him. This wasn't a matter of "he shouldn't have been out for recess" and just a simple accident - if it didn't happen outside, it probably would have happened just as easily lining up for lunch. On top of that, our playground is a sheet of ice right now, so the kids are all relegated to the blacktop and there is hardly any room for anyone to do any actual playing, so they are all just standing around anyway...

This forum is for School Nursing (nurses working in schools), not Nursing School, FYI!!

Update! He did indeed re-fracture in the same place (I'm sure there's a more clinical term for this...) Luckily, he was in and out of the ER within 2 hours! I think he'll be back in class tomorrow. He may even be here today, I honestly haven't checked with admin yet! Thanks everyone for your kind words of support!!

5th grader who broke his clavicle 10days ago (his arm is still immobilized) was knocked over while coming in from recess, landed on his back and shoulders... I'm so glad our recess monitors are so good... They immediately called me down, and even though he was saying he felt ok, he was guarding his shoulder, pale and diaphoretic, and his verbal response time was slowed. Of course both parents are with their other child at specialist appointments 2.5 hours away all day! I told admin to call the parents and let them know I recommend EMS eval/transport, and they of course agreed. EMS came, agreed with my assessment and away he went, poor kiddo. I feel confident that it will be fine, but I just couldn't take the risk, and I most certainly was not moving him by myself.

Also, assess for time of onset - i.e. "the beginning of math/writing/reading" or "right when I got to school" are frequent answers I get from kids with avoidance.

This is my 2nd grade and 4th grades; The poor teachers.... And the kids can be so manipulative, too. I've been "leaving it up to [the] parents" a lot these past two weeks.... I have no reason to send you home, but if Mom wants to come grab you, she is more than welcome....

Huh, I tried to set one up and it automatically kicked me off because I Didn't select "teacher"... I feel odd lying about my profession in order to obtain items. Also, when I searched, the only health related things were for classroom-based health curriculum stuff.

THIS is why I wish school nurses could have pages on donorschoose.com.... It's AMAZING for the teachers. We have several classrooms with pages up and several have had entire initiatives funded by local and non-local funders. I know I personally cannot currently afford to contribute to my health office, but I'm honestly worried I will run out of bandaids and thermometer probe covers this year. I luckily have other nurses to borrow from, and a backup temporal thermometer that I can sanitize easily (though I hate them). Good luck!

They may want to know how you would handle a crisis situation, learn about your particular style of prioritization, and yeah, your personality/how well you'll mesh with the school community. When I interviewed, I was with the Principal, the AA, The adjustment counselor, and the former school nurse... They didn't want to know much about my history other than "why school nursing?" and more if you're going to be a good fit to work with kids and adults!

I did my MIIS immunization surveys (pre-k through survey monkey, Kinder through MIIS, if I recall correctly), I did not see an option to submit BMI information...

I haven't done this, nor do I plan to, but for my area (W.Mass), I'm going to guess that there is a higher rate of un- or under-vaccinated children and a higher rate of "alternative medicine" types sending their kids to these schools. However, if I think about more urban settings and families I've known who would fight tooth and nail to get their kids into a charter in the urban setting, my guess would be a "tougher" set of kids, who are maybe a bit more well adjusted? I interviewed for a school nurse position several years ago for a "virtual" charter school, and that position would have been waaaaaay different, as most of the kids were either so behaviorally challenged they had been kicked out of every other brick and mortar school they'd attended, OR they medically couldn't be out in public (immunosuppressed in some way or another, or needing so much 1:1 nursing care it would be nearly impossible to make it through a regular school day). Sorry, I know this isn't really relevant to your question, but I would think the Charter would have to follow the same regulations as a public school, but the "clientele" may be different!

What do you include in your field trip bags? Right now, I only have bare-bones supplies that comply with our staff first aid policy (i.e. what a general staff person is allowed to do) - a couple pairs of gloves, alcohol swabs and single-use saniwipes (not sure why, but WTH), some sterile gauze, and bandaids plus student-specific epi-pens... would you/do you include anything else?

Since my family is split, we have 4 or 5 Christmas gatherings spread over Sunday-Tuesday. After that, all of my very best friends will be in town so we have a couple of fun days/evenings planned (none of us have kids). Other than that, hoping to do some deep house cleaning/organizing... I had August off after switching jobs, but my mind was in total decompression mode, and I couldn't comprehend doing any work at all during those 4 weeks, and so it has waited!! Happy Break, everyone!!! We Made It!!

Just this AM, a 4th grader comes down for an ice pack for her band-aided paper cut. I promptly explained that I know it stings, but ice ain't going to do anything and I'm no longer giving out ice packs for things I don't deem necessary. Knowing this girl's social standing, I'll be seeing less of her class for ice from here on out:happy: