amnesiac1c

A significant portion of my elementary school consists of PreK & PPCD students. It's much more challenging keeping these kiddos in my office for longer time periods like waiting for parents to pick up or during breathing treatments etc. What do you have in your clinics to keep them occupied during times like that?

Our doors open at 7:30 but school hours are 7:55-2:55. I am on the same pay scale as teachers & I work the same contract hours as teachers which is 7:45-3:45. There are times though that I may stay late or arrive early for meetings or PTA events.

PPCD/PreK - 6th, Title I approx 600 kids 3 daily meds so far 1 diabetic 6 seizure disorders In addition to screenings, right now I see around 25/day. I expect that to increase in the winter though. Seems like my daily average toward the end of the year is usually around 35.

I have a student with this. She's fine as long as she eats a snack at recess. My orders from her doctor basically say there shouldn't be an issue unless she gets sick and/or stops eating. Mom sends snacks & juice to keep on hand. I also have orders for checking her blood sugar if she has hypoglycemia symptoms & giving carbs if she's low. Not a big deal to manage thus far.

For some reason my clinic traffic is out of control this year. I'm wondering what specific guidance you use for teachers regarding when they should send students vs what & how to manage things in class?

In my district, we do not send kids on the bus with temp >= 100F, parents must pick up.

It depends on the school as well. I work at a title I school & my principal was specifically looking for someone with substantial experience working with at-risk & low-income families. But RN is necessary & either BSN or at least a few years clinical experience for sure. I did have a friend who was an LVN & she worked at a private school. My local Head Start program has an LVN also.

I do not police body odor. If it were causing an issue with peers teasing or something then I would probably talk with parents but otherwise, I do not.

My budget is slightly under $1/student. My policy is generally that if students are hurt badly enough to need an ice pack then they must stay in my office for observation & assessment. That usually helps control some unnecessary traffic. But I do make exceptions on occasion - like if I don't want a kid to miss lunch I will let them take it to the cafeteria & check in with me when they finish eating. I do not apply a compression/ACE wrap without doctor's orders so I do not stock or provide them in my clinic. But I do take a couple with me when we take our 5th graders to camp just in case I need the support for some reason.

I do a monthly staff newsletter. Each month has a health topic section based on seasonal stuff or national health observances, a calendar of local health related events, 1-2 recipes & a couple of quotes. I go on announcements every week & do a quick info session for the kids. I also usually share out coordinated info digitally on my school social media accts & in our campus weekly digital newsletter. I usually do one or the other of those depending on the depth of the content.

I follow the same exclusion guidelines for all my early childhood kids as I do my elementary kids. The first year EC moved to our campus there were a couple of teachers who did not like that at all but they adjusted.

I have a form that I send out but it's their choice whether they choose to share it with me or not. I keep them in a binder in duplicate so that in the event of an emergency I can just pull one copy out for EMS. That's the only time I'd use it.

I have a pedi one but I don't think it's a necessity.

Yes, I do look so I can share what I see as a part of my assessment. Of course I always emphasize to parents that I cannot diagnose ear infection, strep, etc. But I have found beads, pieces of broken pencil & beans in ears so I do think it's important.

Today I got "I got grossed out at lunch when a kid was squishing his peas like a booger & now I feel like I'm going to throw up."