AutumnDraidean

So I’m a sub, one of the schools I go to is a SPED environment. I was called to the gym, a kid had run, headlong into an electric box on the wall, when I got there he was still experiencing an altered LOC so when the principal asked if I wanted 911 called I said yes. That school was great, they had all the stuff needed for the ambulance and a member of admin called the family. When the dust settled it dawned on me that this kid had a shunt. I opted for 911 because of his LOC, but he would have needed the ER for imaging anyhow…right call, wrong reason. I actually don’t know if they dealt with the hazard, fire inspector didn’t want the box covered in padding and I honestly don’t know which side won that fight.

I know of a nurse who has both an OAE and an audiometer, she uses the audiometer first and only resorts to the OAE when the audiometer isn’t working out. When I worked at a head start I used an OAE, it had one big flaw, as far as I was concerned, if a child had a recent ear infection that ear would refer for some weeks afterwards, even if the infection had been found and treated. It was the bane of my existence.

As a sub I’m not making those decisions at this school. The nurse I’m subbing for is on maternity leave, we can ask her questions as well as the two other nurses the serve the elementary schools. They also have a designated staff member that is tracking and such for the entire district. He’s working closely with the county health department. It’s both helpful and not. Students being sent home wait in his office as well. I don’t have a positive impression of this person at the moment. Although that’s simply because he was on some kind of webinar and didn’t speak to me when I walked in multiple times. If/when I talk to parents I suggest they add an antihistamine as recommended by their doctor to reduce allergy symptoms when they’re at fault. My MIL, status post vaccines in February got a false positive (pre procedure) that was negative 3 days later so I’m just dubious about everything right now.

Why do they send them to school if they’re feeling crappy from the vaccine? At a HS, 16 and up getting vaxed, then going to school feeling like crud, I have to send them home if they have any one of a distressingly large list of symptoms. They have to be covid tested if they’re on their first vax... guardian answers phone “now what?” why? So sick of the mixed messages the public is getting while schools are still following the strictest of rules for symptoms and exposure...and it’s coming into allergy season!

I’m going to frame this in the context that I’ve always lived in small communities. When I was in college I worked for a grocery store so not high stakes, someone called in on a Friday night in order to go to the demolition derby at the county fair. And the boss went too, and fired this person on the spot, with a few choice words at that. Ever after, sick or just needing a day, if I’ve called in sick you will NOT see me in public outside the doctor, pharmacy or perhaps the grocery store. I don’t even know who lost their job, but the story stuck with me! I’ve called in as a result of childcare fails, failure to sleep prior to night shift and sick children issues, my employer wasn’t sympathetic to any of these so I’ve generally had to say I’m the sick one. It never failed, the following week or maybe two weeks later I would be struck down with whatever I claimed before. It made me very very careful. Don’t get me wrong, when I’ve had childcare fails it led me to switch daycare families! The sitter in question nailed me three times, once my weekend sitter bailed me out, once my mother-in-law bailed me out so only once did I have to call in. And when your three year old comes to you at 1258 and barfs on your shoes, you call in for evenings even before you clean up the barf! We all need mental health days. But people who abuse it make it hard for everyone. I don’t feel guilty calling in. But I am very mindful about it.

We would need medicare for all to make this work. As well as a backup system of some kind. It would be fantastic though!

I think you'll love it. plus you will be a great role model for dads scared to handle their babies and dads who need to understand the importance of breastfeeding when it sometimes looks like a great big hassle.

I would suggest a slightly different dual certification, Peds! imagine being able to care for moms and babies together, what that could do for breastfeeding! Especially when it's not going so well. I remember so many times when that would have helped me. It actually sort of did, I know a PNP who is also a lactation consultant who was able to help me with a painful latch... OTOH when I got mastitis I had to see a provider who was scared to death to prescribe an abx for me. he was an PA and I suggested he choose an abx he would also give to a 3 month old with confidence. What if I wasnt a nurse who knew that? He'd have told me to pump and dump and that would have ended the breastfeeding! That's why we could all benefit couplet care continued after the hospital stay! I wish you the best!!

Decide which provinces you are interested in living in. Some are more protectionist than others, Ontario has a terrible reputation with incoming RNs (Canadian student who attended Northeastern in Boston and was licenced in Massachusetts and had critical care experience was given such a run around by Ontario that she gave up and went to grad school out in BC!) I don't know how it it goes with midwives. Do your research! It may be the best way to practice in Canada is to be educated there. Best of luck in any case.

I received my second Moderna dose about 0945 Friday morning. Started feeling cruddy around 6pm and went downhill from there. Fever and a frontal lobe headache. I was trying to avoid taking advil or tylenol. I had a fussy belly all night, no actual nausea, but it kept me from considering other options in the back of the medicine cabinet because eating something beforehand was breaking my brain. So I behaved myself. around 5am I took tylenol and then again around 10am. The headache hasn't returned although I do miss the night's sleep that I didn't get. Hopefully I'm done, but I won't fully believe that until I wake up tomorrow morning feeling chipper. Also of note my tonsils were swollen and annoying and I had a bilateral earache most of today, that's still going on, but it was drowned out by that headache until recently.

My daughter had her second Moderna yesterday and it's kicked her butt. nasty headache, random body aches Lots of chills but no actual fever. I'll be getting mine Friday and I'm not looking forward to my weekend. We're opting not to treat fever. Lets see if I turn out to have a fever. I had a mild fever after my second shingarix but it only dawned on me the next day that it was in response to the vaccine.

I've only had the tiniest brush with corrections nursing, but honestly OP you sound like someone ripe to be gamed. See the abuse in the prison system isn't coming from the men an women who work directly with the inmates, its coming from above. it's the way our laws work, it's institutional racism and poverty that both cause trauma which can lead to addiction and crime. You as an LPN will be in no position to touch any of these issues. When you are an RN you will have both more and less power. I learned something about myself in my tiny brush with it (Float nurse sent to secured unit at hospital 20 miles from a major NYS prison) I don't want to have to look at a patient and wonder if I'm being lied to. I don't want to have to mistrust my patient's description of subjective symptoms because they're trying to get some narcotics. I especially do not want harm to happen because I couldn't trust that description. Once I understood these things I knew that corrections nursing was wrong for me. So OP if you want to work on the things I mentioned in my first paragraph you need to get involved from a different angle. Corrections nursing isn't the right avenue. If you just want a juicy state pension go find a different state agency to work for. Corrections is probably NOT for you. I wish you the best. maybe your state has an agency like NYS OPWDD that works with adults and children with developmental disabilities. You can make a lot of difference there.

I had this happen, pre-covid. HS Student complaining of feeling poorly, no objective symptoms, shared that she was in danger of repeating a grade due to absences, I gave her a pep talk about responsibility and what an employer would expect of her, and sent her back to class. Later on I had a call from her grandmother complaining that I hadn't called. I explained our conversation but told her that if she felt her granddaughter needed to come home it was her decision, she was quite welcome to pick the girl up. She said her granddaughter said she'd thrown up. I responded that if she wanted to come back to the nurses office we could assess it then, but I had my doubts. The girl never came back and the regular nurse never complained.

The people who need to show compassion to the parents are their employers! Firing a parent for "missing too much" during this pandemic has got to be one of the cruelest and heartless things going on.

One of the districts I sub for, plus one other school wants students sent home for even one symptom. Not fun. Other districts I can use some judgement. Thankfully there hasn't been that many sub days. Come April that will change, one of the nurses is having a baby.

I worked maternal newborn and typically carried 3 couplets and 1-2 surgicals. My hospital did a little under 1,000 births a year. On occasions where I had more it was only for a partial shift. My nightmare was getting caught in a room helping breastfeeding when others needed me. Even the strongest tech is no substitute for an RN. I've had RNs misjudge situations, never mind aids or techs. Any time you get above 8 patients you're at risk to miss something. when I've had more than 8, my colleagues did to and depending on time we were usually calling in our call person to bail us out. The only good thing I can say about it is that you will see a lot of different pathology and situations in such a busy hospital. Be careful to build teams and get to know those techs. ALWAYS double check vitals and last baby feeds. Don't assume that you will be told of out of parameter things, or that the tech will respond appropriately to outliers. Because when the rubber meets to road it's the RN who's responsible. How anyone is supposed to be able to do any decent teaching with 5 couplets I don't know.

As a sub I have many worries, I'm not necessarily going to know if a child has someone at home under quarantine, I'm not going to know if the families are being careful or if I have to worry about every upper respiratory symptom, or how vigilent I need to be about diabetic or asthmatic students. I'm not in any loop of information, I'm not even sure there is a loop. Add to that the information coming out is very fragmented. I wanted to tell a friend running a restaurant that his glove policy was broken but couldn't find anything. How common or dangerous is surface transmission? It's really murky. I think we'll have to totally reimagine school and it's going to be confusing and painful.

JayHanig is so right, I've been saying for years that any outfit that gets unionized nowadays went looking for it and deserved it to a T. The root problem comes down to greed. The c-suite people, even in a purportedly "Nonprofit" get rewarded for budget surplus, so does Nursing Management. If Nursing Management doesn't get rewarded be sure they get hounded if they "overspend" It wasn't quite this bad when I started in '98 but it gradually got worse. I work as a sub school nurse through a small hospital and I'm glad I'm not working bedside lately. A healthy float pool with lots of skillsets and specialties in it and a policy that credits your per diem requirements even if you are not needed on a given day helps a lot. What would really help is the removal of the profit motive from health care. there shouldn't be a reward for anyone when nurses work short and face punitive action for calling in sick. It should be possible to schedule at least one or two people over and then cancel down to correct staffing. Also, putting yourself on a voluntary cancel list shouldn't draw extra scrutiny to a call in. I've heard people say "I couldn't call in because I'm on the cancel list." But, like I said before. our larger society has a severe greed problem and that's what's at the heart of this.

As a sub I only check students who are brought to me. I will NOT call a student down to be checked. I've found life lice once, and a couple incomplete treatments where I still found nits. They had their parents with them and we had a nice little education/commiseration section as my girls have had lice twice.

I'm a sub nurse, I try NOT to just send everyone home because I would face a deluge if I did. I'm the mean sub! No objective symptoms? Not likely to send you home. However...If I call a teacher and ask for more information it's usually because I have no objective symptoms on a kid who's milking it for all it's worth. I want to know more about their usual demeanor before I send them home. A wan little thing with no energy may pop a fever in 2-4 hours...or they may be just fine in the same time frame. teachers know the kids, dish! I do honestly want to do what's best for each child.

Sometimes it's just a matter of communicating with me. I had a parent who answered and said someone would be right over. The geography of the district means that could be up to half an hour. So after 90 minutes I called and parent said "I'm just getting done work and I'll be right over." No apology, nothing like that. I would have appreciated a follow up call that said "Well my back up didn't work out, I'll be over about 12:45 to get Suzie." Then I could've tucked Suzie in for the wait.

New York is heavily regulated and heavily taxed, It's said of New Hampshire that there's a tax behind every rock and tree. Here I'd say that there is a regulation behind every rock and tree, upstate has PLENTY of all three!

For me, how long is acceptable is connected to how sick the child is, where the parent is, if they have to make "arrangements" to leave work. It's also going to depend on how hard it is to get in touch in the first place. I've had to send sick children home to the sitter on the afternoon bus. I get it. It just seems to me that if your job has you that shackled you really should find a back up plan for your sick children. I know it can be hard, but sick happens and it's never convenient.

The style of nursing cap has more to do with the nursing school you attended. In some places, NYC, Boston or Pittsburgh for example, one could tell by looking at the cap, what school the nurse attended. I wore my cap exactly twice. When I was given it at the end of first year, and when I was pinned at the end. It has one stripe, a ribbon of black velvet attached with hot glue! LOL It was an associate degree program, at it used to be a 3 year program run by the hospital until it was moved, lock stock and faculty to the community college. Poke around on Pinterest and you'll see all manner of caps. you'll also see pins from many different nursing schools. It's said the cap evolved from the nuns' habit and back in the day British nurses wore some wild caps! Can't tell I majored in history the first go round! Nah!

My Maternal/newborn unit used to require us to wear hospital provided scrubs. first they were white, then they were lavender, with white or electric green for men, then the white and lavender disappeared and all we had were ill fitting electric green. especially annoying to those of us who'd bought purple cover coats to go with lavender scrubs. Suddenly we were turned into Barney the dinosaur!!