zzisaac

That's a great idea Alex mentioned about asking to speak to another nurse. They will speak your language. Also working there while your kids are campers brings a whole different set of things, such as are your kids ok with you doing it? Are your kids allowed to see you during the day, some camps are very strict others not so much. It can be an issue with homesickness for the kids who don't have parents there to see yours get to see you. You might find out more than you want to know about your kids counselors. í ½í¸€ my daughter and I started at camp when she was 10, and now she is off to college and I am still going! We worked the camper/parent thing pretty well.

Similarly - I work at a summer camp and the minute the kid gets off the bus (he will be staying with us 24 hr/day for 4 weeks) he comes to the health center to have his toe checked out - he hurt it at home. I ask why he didn't get it looked at when he was at home, and he says "mom said to wait to get to camp and have you look at it".. Ok - this is the kind of camp that the parents can afford medical care - and sure enough, we ended up taking this kid all the way into the local town and found a provider, got an xray - yup - it was broken! wow.

Oh yes - I do that as well, the note would be handy though even for the counselor - I'm just thinking that camps are so different than usual return to play forms - of course football/contact sports are a given - Maybe the bigger question is - what does return to play mean for camp activities - how can we tailor something to fit the variety of things kids do in camp that is clear for all. Conversations are great, and needed, but there are so many people involved with the camper, not just the one counselor. I'm just looking for a way to make it clear to all involved, the camper, nurses, and counseling staff.

Hi all - I was just wondering if anyone has developed a return-to play type of communication slip specific to camp activities? Most of the ones I can find are team-sports types and don't fit the camp environment. I'm looking to create something like this but thought I'd ask first if anyone has one they are willing to share. Maybe return-to-play isn't the right word (as that is a specific kind of release) but I'm looking for something that a kid who is not having to stay with the nurses for close observation, but still can't do horseback riding or water skiing - how to best communicate that with those specific counselors - if there was a slip that said - activity period 1: painting - OK, activity period 2: climbing - no/observe only... etc... for those kids that are walking around camp, being a part of things, but not released yet for full on contact. Thoughts?

If you search the ACA website for MESH (mental, emotional, social health) you will find a lot of resources. I would start there. acacamps.org

I don't think so, they didn't mention it. That's a great idea though, but I've never been to a conference that has that available, have you?

I am a nursing educator and teach a senior level nursing course called "quality and safety for nurses". I have the students actually perform a quality improvement project, determined by the facilities (so not a "change project") and it usually always requires some kind of abstracting. This has been so helpful to the students, they are able to use this as part of job interviews, as well as get a better understanding of the significance of thorough documentation.

Serious shortage of nurses this summer. A few years ago hospitals had a hiring freeze in many areas, so nurses were looking for work anywhere. Not so this year, they are hiring again and we are feeling it! If you need endorsement/reciprocal license in another state most camps will reimburse any fees associated with it. I recommend recruiting nurse friends, school nurses, nurse practioners students (who may have Summer's free and are already RN's) or nursing faculty who also have Summer's free. Not only is it hard to find nurses, but for 7 or 8 weeks it is even harder. For the past 5 years I have worked at my camp for 10 weeks (it's 12 hours from home) and my husband is tired of me being gone so long. I'm only doing 6 weeks this summer and it's killing me to not stay the last 4 weeks, and they don't have anyone to replace me yet. I should just kick my husband to the curb, huh? Hah! Good luck!

Just curious if nursing programs are still allowing students to practice injections with normal saline on each other? We we have stopped allowing students to practice IV insertion on each other, but are currently debating pros/cons of allowing IM/SQ injections. Thoughts?

The camp I work at serves over 1200 campers all summer (not all at one time!) but it is very complex, with a 2 week, 4 week, and 8 week option. We use CampMeds and I highly recommend them. We ask the meds to be there 4-5 days prior to the campers so that we can get it all set up - and they send the MARS as well and we do use them. There are, on rare occasion, a mistake so we ALWAYS double check the roll of meds that comes against every MAR as well as the parent request that is included. They have been great at fixing any problems in a timely fashion. I definitely recommend if you purchase any blister packs to package yourself, that you know the laws in the state. Most state pharmacy laws prevent nurses from doing this without pharmacy oversight, as it is considered 'dispensing' or something like that.

KatieMI - thanks for responding. Yes, there are many variables to consider for sure. To try and answer your questions #1 - I don't know the nurse/patient ratio - I didn't ask and wasn't in a position to know. When I discussed it with the nurse after she did say she is on a time crunch (1 hour) to pass the 9am meds, which I do understand, but she could have went and passed for someone else and come back. It is never appropriate, nor hygienic to pass meds while someone is on the commode. #3 - I do not know the unit acuity - it was a small hospital with quite a few chronic type patients. It isn't something I could ask about as they are not at liberty to talk about the other patients. I do understand about acuity - even when I was a floor nurse and only had 4 patients, one of them could certainly take up the majority of my time. #4 - the IV tubing was the 'old fashioned' kind that did not have the self-cleaning ports or hubs or caps, etc. Clearly the kind that needed scrubbed. I plan to visit with the unit director for one of the hospital units we were at, and if my mom gets a survey to fill out I will be glad to help her. I try so hard not to be critical or picky when I am in the hospital or a family member is, as I know there are so many other variables that are always involved, but the concerns for the past 3 weeks have compounded and I know they are a result of a larger system of problems. Thanks again for your response!

I have been in and out of 3 different hospitals with my mom in the past 3 weeks and have to say, I am completely disillusioned about my own profession. In all the 3 weeks she has only had one nurse that was anything near what I would consider safe/kind/knowledgable all together. Some of them were nice but dumb, others smart but not nice, etc.. Some things I have witnessed In one 8 hour shift (I was there the whole time) the nurse spent a total of 10 minutes with her, and that was giving pills. A nurse came in to her room with her computer on wheels and all of mom's meds and started handing them to her with a glass of water WHILE SHE WAS HAVING A BOWEL MOVEMENT ON THE COMMODE. That nurse got a talking to in the hallway by me. Giving an IV med without scrubbing the hub AT ALL and yes, phlebitis developed a few days later. Taking stitches out without wearing gloves (I walked in on this happening, and so I don't know if she even washed her hands before starting) - let's hope her incision does not get infected now. Do any of you get disillusioned with nursing when you or your family members are the client? Of course, none of these nurses were in any of my classes....::)

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all of these ideas about post-clinical! In the book "Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation" (Benner's, Sutphen, Leanard, Day, 2010) they identified the post-clinical as one of the very special things in nursing education that we are doing WELL. We need to keep it up! I do think it is a time for both reflection - something the student might need to process in a safe environment, as well as validation of either knowledge or skill. I personally don't think it should be a time for new content/learning. I have had 'guests' people from other areas - come and speak to the students occasionally, but found just the processing/reflection is much more valuable.

I look forward to meeting you! I have enjoyed reading all of your posts throughout this specialty. Have you been to one of the ACN conferences before?

I would love to hire a company, we check on opening day, 2 weeks later, and the day before they go home (4 week camp). We have over 500 campers to check and use 4-5 nurses, and 2-3 nursing assistants. The nursing assistants usually get the temperatures and the nurses check the heads. We set up outside of the health center on benches. It is one of the stops for each cabin on their camp tours, right before swim checks. What I like: is that it gives us a chance to have a quick talk with each cabin about developing healthy habits at camp, and we can do a scan of each kid to make note if anyone comes to camp with obvious issues (casts, wounds etc that we might not have known about ahead of time) What I don't like: is that invariably we still have kids that need to see a nurse for one thing or another, and so one nurse is doing 'sick call' and then we have a few nurses processing all the meds that come in on the bus. It is a real zoo. I do think we miss some lice as a result. I work as the charge nurse and am running in between all the checks, the sick call area, and the medication room, and go absolutely nuts on this one day. Plus, we always have new nurses that have never worked camp, and it gives them a bit of a bad taste having such a busy opening day. Even when the returning nurses try and tell them it is not a usual day, it still takes a while to 'recover'. If we do find cases of lice on check in - we treat right away, which also takes a nursing assistant away from helping with the check-in's. It is a very stressful day all in all. Debra