Romy87

Thanks all, this is why I like to post here - I get reassured of my thinking by nurse colleagues when I'm the lone nurse in a sea of camp staff! When I spoke with the parents, I asked them about coping and management of the night terrors at home and have passed the info on to the counselors for that cabin. I've deferred to the senior staff and director with the issue so I do not need to follow it anymore :) There has been a significant number of campers who have info omitted from their health forms. The missing information either comes to light upon health centre check-in on the first day or not until something like this pops-up and I have to call parents. Annoying!

Hi all, A counselor of a junior boys cabin (ages 7-9) came to me this morning after a rough night of little sleep (2nd night of camp session). On the first night of camp, one of his campers had night terros and last night two out of his eight campers had night terrors at different points throughout the night. The kids are both happy and fine today, and don't remember bad dreams, but do remember being woken by the counselor. I spoke with the campers' parents and they said their kids do this pretty regularly at home. One of the children takes gaunfacine for ADHD but his parents say the night terrors have been an issue long before starting on the med. I'm used to one kid at a time having these, but not used to supporting kids who are having them in a cabin shared with 10 people. If this keeps up, it's not sustainable to have counselors get up each time to wake and settle the child...but is it safe to let them play it out and go back to sleep? The counselor is asking if he can wear earplugs at night, so long as I think it's safe to let the kids just get back to sleep on their own...but I'm uncertain. Any experience with this? Your thoughts are appreciated!

Thankfully, we have not! I'm in Canada with a small number of international campers (US, China, Japan, Mexico) but we have only detected 3 cases on arrival out of about 500 campers so far this summer.

Thanks Big Al! So far no new cases of the GI bug for a few days so I'm hoping it won't come up again...

Hi Folks, I am (hopefully) at the tail-end of a GI outbreak at my camp which is currently closed between sessions. With support from the local public health unit, I'm optimistic it will be under control by the time campers and staff return for the next session next week. The camp director has never experienced an outbreak before and it has become clear that as the only healthcare worker on site, I am now the expert in regards to infection control. My camp has a very small health center with only room to isolate one individual at a time so I have had to do my best with very little in order to segregate symptomatic campers until their parents can come pick them up. I'd like to know what your camp's practices are on dealing with potentially infectious campers and staff. Do you treat all GI symptoms as potentially infectious? Or do you accept that sometimes kids just throw up because they ate too many hot dogs or got too much sun? I'm finding it hard to determine when it's best to quarantine and send home and when it's ok to let them go back to bed in their own cabin...especially when there's no more room at the inn! Your advice and experience is greatly appreciated.

I'm very curious to see what other, more experienced camp nurses have to say about this. I'm starting my first summer in the role in 3 weeks. So far I have a list of topics I'd like to cover but no details on how I'll keep the presentation interesting and not too long-winded. Topics: Hand hygiene Hydration/nutrition Sun safety Asthma Allergies /anaphylaxis How to use epipen and allerject (I have a few demo models) Review of ABCs in emergencies (what to do until RN gets there) When, where and what to come to see me for (to help explain I'm going to use the "6 Big Bs" I read about in a camp nursing book: burns, blood, bones, barf' bites, breathing) I want to touch really briefly on relationship and sex safety for staff (I have a background in reproductive health and can't ignore the risk factors at camp!) but need to talk with the camp director about my boundaries there first Resources: I got a few posters from the asthma clinic at my hospital and I got free posters and demo stuff from Anaphylaxis Canada For the rest of the info, I'm using the Canadian Pediatric Society website ("Caring for Kids") and a couple camp nurse books.

Hi Sue, It's ​so funny that you posted this now because I just sent an email to my camp's director asking if I could whip up a letter to parents on this exact topic. It will be my first summer as a camp nurse and I'm concerned about sending poor disappointed kiddos home on the first day because of a previously undetected infestation. I'm planning on keeping it pretty short and including links to local health unit's websites and a good YouTube video demonstrating lice screening on a child's hair. Waiting to hear back if I can do this, then I'll let you know what I write! --Romy

Hi group, I've been reading this forums posts for months and am finally now chiming-in. I'm an acute care peds nurse in British Columbia, Canada. My husband and have both acccepted jobs at a private residential summer camp, starting in June. This camp is pretty small (average of 100 campers per session) and does not serve kids with special needs or complex health issues. I'll be the only camp nurse and he will be a director for a group of teen campers. This is my first time back at camp since I was a 15-year-old camper and I'm STOKED! I'm reading "The Basics of Camp Nursing" by Erceg & Pravda, and "Camp Nursing Circles of Care" by Casey, to try to cram as much book knowledge as I can before the real-deal starts. I will be looking to you all for tips and tricks to help me have a smooth summer...