ob-rnc

These were my thoughts as well. It turns out, unfortunately, that my school administrator admitted to giving the parent my home phone number (which is not listed in the white pages yet). And basically belittled me for not wanting to "help a student" He told the parent I could go to school and retrieve ADHD medication (a controlled substance) on the weekend bc the parent had ran out at home.

Need some advice on parent boundaries.... I work in a rural district where everyone knows each other for the most part. Plus my own kids attend the same district. The problem I sometimes have is that some parents think they can call my house or send me messages on social media (even if I'm not friends with them) to ask questions about their child over the weekends, holidays or even summers. Not only do I feel uneasy about answering non emergency questions after school hours, it is annoying to a certain point. I mean don't I deserve a day off? Just today I have had 2 Missed phone calls and 1 message on my answering machine about a medication --i cannot imagine what the story is because the student has plenty of medicine at school and I can't break into school to give some to her mom to last her through the weekend. Plus I'm fighting off sinus crud and probably bronchitis that I'm sure I picked up from one of the little darlings and just want to chill and rest and not be a nurse for today--just a patient :)) Does anyone else face this issue? And what are others' opinions? Just curious. Thanks!!

Yes! Along these same lines--I would like for parents to care for their 1,2,or3 children because I have 1,000 students to care for. Like you said--bring in shot records, birth certificates, give me at least 1 phone number that hasn't been disconnected!, don't call me five minutes after the buses unload to ask me to check little Suzue's foot pain that she's had since the basketball game Saturday morning..... It's good to know that I'm not the only one who thought last week was especially rough! I got cussed and yelled at and threatened to be sued this week by a family member because I was trying to care and show concern for their child.... Forgive me for trying to be a ray of light in a young-person's life. What some of our students have live like at home is heartbreaking but being treated like scum gets old. Bring on Thanksgiving Break!

Must be that time of year--fixed a boot heel last week for a student too. And I will add--I gave this same student a new pair of tennis shoes one week before grr! And she's in jr high. Old enough to know better--I am not Walmart! And then today--2 kiddos before home room bell--1st--pants were too loose--tightened the inside elastic ADJUSTABLE waistband and voila! Pants fixed! I'm such a genius! 2nd one--one of his aglets on his shoe string was off and he couldn't put it through the top hole on the left side of his shoe-----I pulled the other string out of that same hole opposite side, tied the shoe and sent him back! Really! You can't make this stuff up. I am sooooo ready for Thanksgiving break! Or some Prozac :/

Sometimes kids make it hard on themselves, by doing the "boy who cried wolf" thing. This makes the school nurse's job very difficult. One example (out of 100's): I had a middle school student come in at the end of the day wailing and carrying on terribly about her knee. She could barely scream through her tears that she had fallen on her knee at gym class. She went on and on about how it was her "bad knee" and insisted I call her mom to come get her. When I called mom, she said to send her on the bus because she could not come get her. I iced the knee and wrapped it with an ace bandage and tried to calm her down. I then pushed the girl to the bus (which had to wait on me to get out there) and gave her crutches to use to get into her house. I was convinced that something had to be terribly wrong with her knee! Two hours later, when I returned to the school to pick up my oldest son from ball practice, I saw this VERY SAME student running in shorts, chasing a toddler around the parking lot!!!!! She was waiting on the boys' practice to finish because she was on the girls' team that practiced next. Needless to say, now when she comes in I have a difficult time believing anything she says. When parents take up for their children who act this way, it only contributes to the problem, rather than improves it. It is difficult as a school nurse sometimes because your job is to try to keep kids in school and if I called every parent over every little scrape or complaint, the absentee rate would be outrageous. School nurses don't know everything, but we do try to do our best with the limited resources we have. I'm sure this boy's mom has wrongly "diagnosed" or messed up in some way too (like maybe if he was that bad she should have taken him to the doctor instead of sending him to school). She does not need to be so rude because he may have just wanted out of school. The worst thing a parent can tell a kid is "if you still feel bad at school, call me and I will come pick you up"...that is the same as a get-out-of-jail-free-card.

I feel for you! Sometimes I think teachers think because you are the newbie, they can boss you around and tell you what to do as if they are "orienting" you to your position. Hang in there and stand your ground with a smile on your face :) The lice policy in my district is still the ancient no-nit policy....I have tried to get it changed, but apparently teacher and parent opinions hold more weight than the latest information from the CDC and Department of Health. The first year at my district I messed up because I found an old letter that used to be sent out to parents when a classmate had lice and started sending those out when I found someone with lice. The teachers praised me for sending that out, saying the old nurse used to do that but then stopped....maybe that should have been a warning! It seemed harmless enough at first: please check and monitor your child for lice...if you find lice treat like this....etc.... After the same 3 students had lice for the 5th time that year, and the parents of the other students threw a fit at a board meeting, demanding the classrooms be sprayed, I quit sending home letters. Last year, two of the same kids had lice again, over and over....I referred them to their PCP and the Health Dept. but to no avail. Teachers started coming to me asking for me to send the letter again....this time I gave them a copy of the letter and told them they could be in charge of sending it out, but it had to have their signature on it not mine, because I did not think it was necessary. I told them I could make one up that said "A classmate of your student has lice, has had lice and will probably always have lice, so be sure to check your child regularly for lice and treat as needed" because that was more factual. I did not have another complaint all year! Although this year I made it 3 days into the year before being asked to do head-checks again :/ grrr.

First off, don't beat yourself up about this, you're human and you're only one person. I'm sure his/her parents have missed an occasional dose of meds as well.:) Also, if the medication was for behavior issues or ADHD, I'm sure the teachers would have noticed if the one missed dose was causing a difference in the student's classroom behavior/performance and reminded him/her that they needed to visit the nurse. I usually send a note or call the parent to tell them I missed a dose and apologize and without breaking privacy laws just say it was a chaotic day or that there was an emergency I was tending to, etc.. That being said, I will get teachers involved in this as well. For example, ask the teacher who has the student at the time his meds are due to remind him to come see you. They still occasionally forget too but between the two of us plus the student, someone remembers. Two heads are better than one. Hope this helps!

So True! Mine would be, Dear Angry Parent, For the 3rd year in a row, if your asthmatic child needs an inhaler at school, you must get a doctor to fill out a medication request form for school. Also, it might be helpful if you sent a new full inhaler to start the year off with, instead of an old empty one that expired the end of August, followed by a nearly full one that expired last year! If you don't want to hear me on the other end of the phone, waking you from your slumber at 10am for the 4th day in a row telling you that your son is having an asthma attack and low O2 sat, then PLEASE take your child to the doctor on the first day I called you and recommended you seek treatment. I am angry about it too! I have a 1000 other students besides your son to care for. It would be great if you could help me out and take care of your ONE child. And P.S. his teacher has asthma too, so the whole accusation that there must be a smelly candle setting off his asthma is bogus. And my thought is if you really cared, you could have mentioned your concern about it during one of our 15 phone conversations this year.

Good for you! I still have a handful out I always hate this time of year. Always seems it comes down to excluding them before parents take it seriously. Especially the 7th graders who need Tdaps. I send letters in April before school is out, letters the first week of school, the principal did a general announcement about it every day for two weeks with morning announcements, I made phone calls, went to each home room and went over the requirements and consequences and finally sent exclusion letters. I have soooooo many other tasks I need to be working on right now! Not to mention a waste of school resources like paper and ink and my time. Ready to get this behind me!

I'm not sure how strong teacher unions are in CA, but my guess is they have a pretty strong voice. With that being said, I am fairly certain that there won't be many teachers rushing to volunteer! As you noted, they cannot make people learn, they have to volunteer. And I am sorry to sound negative but let's face it--the teachers (at least in my district) complain if they don't get their lunch AND planning period during their 7.5hr workday--how many of us school nurses get even a guaranteed 30 min lunch? More less a fairy-tale "planning period." I have teachers who have raised a house-full of children who don't feel "competent" to put on a bandaid....I know no amount of training would make them feel "competent" enough to give a shot of anything. This year I will have 3 diabetics in two separate buildings, along with a multitude of students with other health-related issues. I am the only nurse for the district. A diabetic educator came to our school and gave an excellent demonstration and hands on learning meeting with the teachers that were to have the newest and youngest diabetic. The student has a pump which they've had for more than a year. All the teachers were asked to do was estimate how much food the child ate at lunch and to plug in the carbs into the pump. No one had any complaints until today--the day before school starts! They now say they are not even comfortable at estimating how much food the child has eaten. Oh please! I guess they feel too overwhelmed, seeing as how they have 40-50 other kids to watch in the cafe---so I am supposed to care for nearly 1000 kids in two buildings and that's okay--as long as I don't interrupt a planning period. Sorry, but in my opinion teachers are professionals and should be held to a higher standard. I'm sure this child's parents didn't feel comfortable checking blood sugars and giving insulin and placing an insulin set on their 3yr old at first either but they were willing to learn. I understand in an ideal world there would be enough nurses to care for every child with special needs but in reality that's not the case. If I have a wreck on the way to school and end up in ICU, I feel it's important that at least one other person in the school district is at least aware of how to handle this child, even if they don't possess a medical licensure.

Oh the odors! That is probably the most difficult subject to learn to navigate through in any area of nursing. Earlier this year there were several complaints from kids in one grade at our high school. The class president even asked me to just come and speak to everyone as a group. I put together a power-point presentation, made a handout with cute cartoon pics of a female and male skunk grooming themselves on the front, and downloaded a few cartoonish videos from youtube to show on hygiene and one Pepe LePue Cartoon to demonstrate how he did not realize he smelled bad though others around him did.... I also took several pieces of rags and placed them into zip bags with smelly matter to demonstrate how our clothes can hold onto certain smells and discussed how our noses become accustomed to the smell after constant exposure, but that doesn't mean others can't smell it.... For example, I lit a cigarette let it burn for a few seconds then snuffed it out in a rag and placed it in the zip bag, I also used good smelling things like a rag soaked with fabric softener, peppermint extract, etc.... The kids were great, the videos lightened the mood and for a few kids who participated the most I passed out gifts of deodorant, body wash...Like a door prize. Doing the whole class was great, because it prevented the singling-out of one person, leading to the awkward embarrassing moments. Also, ( I will jinx myself for saying this) but I have not had one complaint since then and that was in November! I am planning to make it an annual educational opportunity :) Hope this helps!

Remember, it was the straw that broke the camel's back....not the whole bale. It is okay to go above and beyond, but it is also okay to draw boundary lines. The earring may have just been the final straw for that particular day...totally understand.

Okay, so today was pretty busy and I ended up staying a little late to finish up as I am sure most of us end up doing 4 out of 5 days a week. Today I had one of those Agh! moments...15 minutes after it was time for me to leave, I had to break up a fight in the hallway of the main office. There were six kids still there waiting on their parents to pick them up (and the poor things always seem to have to wait long after everyone else leaves...a whole other story) and the principal and guidance counsellor were away at a meeting. Two of the boys were rough-housing with each other and aggrivating one of the sisters. I had already gotten onto them yesterday for the same kind of mischief and today made them sit in the chairs at the office until their folks arrived and tried to explain to them that their actions could end up with someone seriously injured..... After that incident was out of the way, I was then approached by not one, not two, but 3 little girl-scouts who had stayed after school for a meeting. They are all frequent flyers to the nurse's station and all three had vague complaints...ie. my arm has hurt for 3 days...I have a rash that's invisible to the naked eye....I took a look at them, and told them they needed to tell their moms but they looked fine to me....no ice after school. My problem is this....The teachers who stay after school for intervention, get to fill out a special form and get extra pay for their efforts. As a nurse, I could never ethically allow myself to not help a student or anyone else whose life was in danger...diabetic crisis, heart attack, RDS, etc..... However, is it my duty to stay after school hours and treat the girl-scout troup for free?! The girl scouts and other groups have made it a habit to use the school's cafeteria for meetings, plus these out of district kids who were fighting today seem to have to wait longer and longer everyday to get picked up. It is not just once in a while it is getting to be everyday. I am ready to ask the superintendent if I could fill-out a teacher form for extra hours too. So tired and aggrivated today! Any advice? Thanks I needed to vent!

Had a similar situation last year with a male student. He was having several bowel accidents each week. He would not even tell the teachers when he did, he would just continue on playing at recess, working in the classroom, etc., until the staff could smell it and then he was sent to me to be changed. He was in first grade and had done the same in kindergarten. His dad refused to come to meetings, see a doctor an so on. I sent home information on the diseases caused by fecal matter and called him every week for a while. He finally stopped answering the phone. Eventually, I called CPS because I feared abuse. The student was an only child and was being raised by a single dad. After one phone call I saw improvements and so far this year--no accidents!! Some parents just need a kick-start or an eye-opening experience. It's truly sad that we care more for them than their own flesh and blood sometimes. Good luck!!

I was told by a student the other day that her teacher refused to give out bandaids for fear of being held liable if the paper cut, pencil scratch...etc...became infected....of course that particular student's scratch was barely visible to the naked eye.... some days I feel I have no support from the school administrators on nursing decisions....chronic bellyachers, frequent flyer issues and have been tempted to just leave a phone in the health clinic and allow all the kids to call home when they want to. Not sure some days if I am really thought of as a nurse or just a person who hands out ice and bandaids?