mainecoonRN92

I probably wash my hands more her, because I am in child care/preschools and am not allowed to have hand sanitizer in the building. In the hospital, if I was just checking in on a patient or giving meds, I would use hand sanitizer before and after. Now I have no option but to wash my hands. But my hands were always in rougher shape working at the hospital and I really think it was the hand sanitizer.

Yup. Just was announced our whole region will be closed for at least the next two weeks. There is school today and parents were encouraged to have students attend today to get any materials for the two week break but our absenteeism rates are atrocious. Next week, students and staff are to work from home. What I am going to be doing, I have no clue. The week after is our normally scheduled Spring break. We shall see what follows but it is just sheer mass panic in my community. It's really hard to watch what this is turning into. The funny thing is, at no point in the parent email about the school closure does it mention social distancing. I'm certain that at least half of our student populations will be filling up local daycares and community centers due to single/working parents. So much for controlling the spread, eh?

Same

If you haven't already you may need to touch base with your local public health authority.

In my state, urinary catheterizations can be delegated to UAP. So as a last resort you can look up whether or not your state allows you to delegate it. But I also agree, if you contact the parent, they would probably feel most comfortable coming in themselves if you are out.

This! This is why I would make sure I had doctor's documentation on the helmet! Especially if your staff are to take on on/adjust/manipulate it in any way.

Yay! I'm glad you got more clarification! As a nurse with multiple buildings and probably 70 teachers, I could not imagine meeting 1-1 with them about health concerns. I felt your pain!

I give out a list on a quarterly basis with emails to supplement in between. I put it on the teachers. I request a read receipt on my emails and if they choose not to read it, I've done my due diligence.

If the student with a medical condition is in the teacher's class, I don't see how that is a FERPA violation. They are a need-to-know staff member. As long as the paper lists are in a secure location within the teacher's classroom, lists are fine. With that being said, I only share the medical diagnoses with teachers that can actually impact the student's day i.e., asthma, allergies, autism, etc. If a parent reported a surgical hx of circumcision, I'm not going to share that information with the teacher. LOL ?

Does your state Department of Health or BON have any guidance on this? I know my state follows the Public Health Departments Exclusionary Guidelines in order to protect FAPE but also reduce the spread of infectious diseases.

^^^^ This! I do not accept orders that do not have all the information. It is stated in our medication policy, our parent handbook, and parents are presented the requirements during beginning of the year conferences. I am not going to lull parents into a false sense of security of me accepting the orders, or medications heaven forbid, without the proper documentation. It's a slippery slope of "well you have the medication in your office, why can't you just give it?" Lord knows in an emergency, I would give a child their rescue medication without orders, but with me being in a pre-k, we could lose our licensing for even having the medications in our building without proper doctors orders.

I really don't have a recommendation for a different audiometer. I use an ANCIENT hand held audiometer. Unfortunately there is no way my district could afford a Pilot Test. But just putting this out there that you can be successful screening pre-K kiddos with a regular audiometer if you incorporate some "play audiometry" techniques. My preschool has 43% SPED population and I only have to refer about 12 % of my total population for further testing. Here is an example of play audiometry with a preschooler: I use counting bears from Amazon and it is a hit with the littles. I really hope you get your pilot but if you get an audiometer that is not so "little friendly" just know there are options for you to try to use! ?

I am assuming you are talking about influenza, not a stomach virus, correct? I think you've done a very thorough assessment. Were they prescribed any anti-virals such as tamiflu?

This! ^^

Background: I am mainly at one building but respond to emergencies throughout the district. If I am responding to another site: stethoscope, manual blood pressure cuff, pulse ox. If I am responding in my building/emergency evacuation bag: stethoscope, pulse ox, bandaids, a couple 2x2s and 4x4s, maybe one roll of packing gauze, glucose gel, and that's about it. I don't go crazy with my go-bags. If its an emergency, I always have plenty of onlooking staff available to run and get me anything else I might need.

Yeah, no way would I be attempting that.

I have had issues like this, and at the end of the day, it is probably in your best interest to get admin involved. Also make sure you are documenting your requests for the medication from parents.

Since I have multiple buildings/schools, this would not be a nurse/health aid responsibility. If a student has toileting assistance as an accommodation on their IEP/504, it is the school's responsibility to train a staff member to perform this care. I will say it is uncommon for a student to require toileting assistance who is not already receiving heavy assistance in other areas. Also to clarify further, not being "potty trained" at a Pre-K, KG, or even 1st grade level can be age appropriate. My district is very strict that potty training is NOT part of any curriculum and is not an expectation of the school staff. If we have a student who is aging up and is still not potty trained, the social worker/school psychologists usually get involved and communicate with parents about potty training at home and connect them with resources.

This is the same in my state. You cannot run a public preschool without the teachers and their assistants receiving an annual training on diapering, standard precautions, etc. It's part of the child care licensing agreement.

Same as above!

Ummmmmm what?! That is the most ridiculous thing I've heard all day.

This is exactly what I do. I do clarify with orders but I also use my nursing judgment as well. If I cannot trust the student to eat everything I am dosing them for I have them bring back their tray after they eat so I can help them calculate the carbs. This is also a huge teaching point for parents and the student. Usually I only have to do this for a few weeks until I can start to develop a trust and rapport with the student.

I too push for fluids. I do not give any OTC/hard candy due to district policy/DHS regulations. I will give some warm water and set a timer (preschool age students) and explain that I want them to try to drink slowly over a minute or two. Other than that, my state guidelines note that exclusion is recommended if the child is experiencing severe, uncontrolled coughing or wheezing, having difficulty breathing, etc. If the student has tried all my tricks and is still coughing after 15-20 minutes, I call home for pick up.

This is one of my favorite grounding exercises. And it works for most ages. I also use some guided meditation apps on my phone that help kiddos control their breathing that I find works well for my younger population who are so memorized by technology. I agree that this shouldn't be addressed solely by medical alone, I would involve the social worker, school psych, counselors, etc.

I do have a district provided cell and I am not allowed to record/share any types of media of students. The reason being if the parent were questioning anything staff did, or if it turned into a CPS case, my phone and subsequently myself could be subpoenaed. I wholeheartedly agree with this. If parents need to see their child they should come into the school. If they want monitoring of seizures, first I would need a doctor's order, then the parent would need to provide the material to perform that monitoring. Just my two cents. You should look into your district's/schools policies.