LMTCBnurse

I work with Pre-K and K students, we do hand washing, proper sneezing, and coughing techniques in the fall. In Dec I plan to talk about why it is important to know what different colored fruits are good for and how they help us. The kids and staff will wear a different color each day of the week for 5 days,symbolizing different fruits. In Feb every class talks to the dentist about tooth care and sugar content in foods and drinks. Each student gets a tooth brush to take home. In April I will have the Bat Cave come visit. They will talk to the kids about bats in our area (and explain bats in general). Then the students can put on 3 D glasses and walk through the bat cave. We will end the year in May with a Milk Mustache Monday. All the students will make up their own mustache out of construction paper and tape it on to wear in to the cafeteria while eating lunch.

I have a similar statement and it has helped. Also at the end of every other month I send out an e-mail to all teachers with the number of students from their class that has been in the nurse's office for that month. It really gets the teachers talking.

I work part time for a large Health facility keeping the medical staff certified in CPR. I usually have a class every week and more during breaks and summer. It pays great and I get to pick the dates. It makes some days really long (working 7-4 at the school and 5-11 pm in the classroom).

thanks for the words. Being the only nurse in the building means no one to talk to about the pace and work. It's just my normal day. Having confirmation that it is a lot of work makes it better. And it is Friday too (that really helps).

I have been working as a School Nurse for the past 9 years. It seems like every year it gets harder. More students (850 Pre-K and kindergarten) more health issues (asthma, peanut allergy, bee allergy, diabetes, seizure disorders, ADHD) more that are not potty trained, and demanding parents that want a phone call every time their child gets a scratch. I see 40-60 kids a day and on average call about 20-25 parents. Everything needs to be charted and every child needs to have a physical and immunizations by Oct 15. People say to me all the time "you must love your job putting bandaids on boo boos". I do like my job, but don't know how long I can keep going at this pace. Yes, it has been a difficult week. Maybe I need some ideas on how to make this job easier.

A similar thing just happened at my school. A 3 1/2 yr old Pre-K fell on the playground. Staff carried her in to the office. She was crying and couldn't point to where it hurt. We reassured her, and I started assessing. When I got to the left ankle she winced when I touched it but no redness swelling or unusual presentation. I continued to calm her and iced the ankle for 10 min. She played with toys while resting on cot with ice. After 10 min I asked her to stand on. She refused to put wt on it. I called parents and they were there in 10 min. When student saw mom she started crying. I told mom what had happened and said she may need an x-ray since she refused to try to stand on that foot. I told her I thought the problem was her ankle. Mom said she would take her for an x-ray. Next day my Principal received an e-mail from the mom saying I was uncaring and cruel to try and make her daughter stand on a broken ankle (x-ray confirmed it was broken). How was I uncaring? She later apologized to the teacher and principal for her e-mail but said nothing to me about it. I get to see mom 2 x dly when she drops student off and when she picks her up. It is impossible to please everyone. And I cannot tell if bones are broken.

I had a K student come in not once but twice today for bloody nose. When I asked him the second time why he thought it kept happening, he told me it was because he was putting his pencil up his nose. I told him if he would keep his pencil out of his nose, it wouldn't bleed. I saw him going to the bus at the end of the day and he saw me, smiled and said "you were right, it didn't bleed this afternoon". Also had a student come to my office with a note from the teacher. The note said "she thinks she is blind". I read it twice and then asked the girl how she got to the nurses office (it's a big school). The K student told me she walked. I told her to walk back to class with the same note but wrote "Really?" on it. And finally today had a student walk from gym class to office to tell me she had broken both her legs in gym class. I asked her to pull up her pants so I could look at the broken bones. She said forget it, I'll go back to gym class. I am glad it is Friday.

I have a question about leaving the nurse office to have lunch. Every student that comes in to my office has to be charted on electronically, my job. When I leave the office for lunch, I come back and the secretary hands me scrap pieces of paper with names and conditions. I have to find the kids and recheck them to chart. So how does your charting get done on the students when you are gone to lunch. I have no other help except the attendance secretary that sits by my office and she answers the never ending phone calls.

I am not surprised by your thought. I also think the moon fazes effect what goes on it the office, students and teachers. My real interest is how do you get this web site on your work computer and and have time to use it. My work computer goes through Technology and they will close and put a block on any site that is not work related.

It is September and I am sick of this topic already. I work Pre-k and K school 834 students. I have more severe nut allergies than ever before. The district will not stop birthday treats and won't stop peanut butter from coming in to the school. My school, classrooms, and cafeteria is "Nut Safe". We do not police snacks and lunches. Yes, every class has snack time in the rooms and breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria. If there is a child that has a nut allergy: the classroom is set up to be "Nut Free" notes are sent home stating there is a nut allergy in the room lists of nut free snacks are sent home students that continue to bring nut snacks sit at another table from non nut snack kids all hands are washed before and after eating snack all tables are cleaned nut allergy student cannot have any brought in food snack until parent is called the cafeteria never serves anything with nuts in it (no peanut butter ever for hot lunch from the school) nut allergy students sit with hot lunch students from class everyone washes hands before lunch and uses hand sanitizer after lunch (recess is always after lunch) Epi Pens must be kept in the nurse office teachers don't give meds nurse or parent needs to be on all field trips There are between 22-25 students in each classroom and I have 7 classrooms that are "Nut Free" I spend a lot of my day calling parents to see if child can have the birthday treat brought in I wonder how many of these students really have nut allergies. Only 1 has actually had a + test from the allergist. Again I am sick of it.

I will be back for the fall and just found out that I am doing summer school also. I was so looking forward to summer and no school. It is only for the month of June, so I will still have July to rest.

I think that happened at my school last week. Asthma -especially if showing signs of distress Nose bleed - next (until you can work with them, have student pinch) Vomit- tell them to sit up and put their head in the trash can and stay there until you tell them to move. Instruct another parent to use ammonia capsule on parent and keep them on the floor until you can assess.

I work at Pre-k and Kindergarten school (800 students). The average is 30 min but have waited up to 2 1/2 hours for parent to pick up sick student. I have a few special toys for kids to play with only when they are waiting for pick up. I let them play for 15 to 20 min then have a snack of cracker and water. Then it is time to go potty, and rest on the cot. Fevers usually take naps. Parents always seem upset but I know it is the situation and not me. They do not like it when I tell them that the kid needs to stay home tomorrow also. But it is part of the work. Once the student is gone I soak the toys, clean up the cot, and let the next student rest. It is a never ending day.

I do not take a lunch break, but am entitled to one. I start work at 7:30, lunch and recess starts at 10:30 and lasts until 1:30, school is out at 3:00. I work until 4 pm - so my lunch is scheduled sometime between 3 and 4 - but there is no one else to break with so I just stay in my office. It's nice and quiet at that time.

I work with very young students (3-6 year olds), but I did have a student with severe allergies that kept her epi pen with her at all times. The problem was who could give it to her, if she needed it. Only the nurse or principal could administer it. Luckily nothing ever happened.