WyVy

Our super (who is also my principal) told us that we have to be flexible, but I'm not sure how far I can stretch that when there are (clear as mud) guidelines to exclude for basically anything other than needing a bandaid. For my firsties it's a little easier, I know who is a FF or has allergies; but with our littles, I just have to take their "big person at home's" word for it that yep they have allergies? It's so daunting. ?

Alright y'all, let's get to the nitty gritty. What Sx are you excluding? Direction from our local Health Dept (OH) is to exclude for ANY symptoms, and then goes on to list eeeeverything under the sun. I mean, EVERYTHING. Congestion, runny nose, headache, nausea, fatigue... So I brought this up to our Health Commissioner during a county wide SN conference call and he didn't even touch base on it. I'm in a PK-1 building that is starting out at 100% 5d/wk, so that applies to pretty much my entire student body on any given day. Between little people's anxiety, allergies, adjusting to waking up early ? I wouldn't have anyone in my building!... but that's a discussion no one is ready for ?

Thanks guys! I absolutely document everything, describe describe! Our Principal got ahold of mom yesterday and said she was nice as can be. Well that's the difference between me and an authority figure I suppose, but makes me seem like a dummy. She told Principal that he was recently dx: insomnia and is on Rx for it. Of course today he comes in alert and back to his usual self. Yes, they are building a case for him anyway regarding other things, but for some reason they're trying to pull me into it. Oy vey. Happy Friday!! :)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks teacher may be overreacting. I've done all I can do, but they're grasping straws. They also hunted me down five minutes after I left their room to demand I check his oxygen levels. He doesn't have any respiratory conditions and when I was down there his RR was WNL. This teacher and I have had the go around in the past anyway. I swear, everyone's a critic.

I need an opinion on an interesting situation guys. I have a Kg student in a resource room who is normally very bubbly, however he's had a rough couple days. The day before yesterday he had a wicked cough and his aide "suggested" he had whooping cough or croup, it was juuuust a cough. So yesterday and today he has been sleeping in class. This isn't completely unusual for him, he has napped in class before because his older brother says he doesn't have a bedtime and usually stays up late. Teacher and aide have told me several times in these last two days that he is sleeping and difficult to wake up, but all vitals are normal. Today the teacher insisted I check his pupils, then asked me what that tells me. The parents of this child NEVER respond to my calls/messages. He still has Christmas papers in his backpack! Long story short, what's a nurse to do?

Kinderbug: I have something in my ear. Me: what is it? Kinderbug: paper. Me: how did it get there?! Kinderbug: I was rolling it into a ball and playing with it and it just... *pointed at ear* Grabbed penlight, sure enough, it was pretty far in there. Curved hemostat saved the day! Almost done y'all!

School nurse here :) "My mom told me to come to you if I don't feel good and she would come get me." Parents, just don't ever say that.

How about parents' "so do I need to pick them up?" Well they vomited all over their desk, so probably.

Hey guys, I need some help! I started half way through the year and am doing hearing/vision rescreens. I have a first grader who was 20/20 20/50 at the beginning of the year, but I just rescreened him and he passed both. Is this a common scenario to fail and then pass? Student was not referred after first test, unsure why.

Glad I'm not the only one who's X-ray vision is out of order! I try to level with them by saying "if it was my son (I have a first grader) I'd have it looked at just to be on the safe side." I hate urging people to go to the Dr over some things, high deductibles and yadda yadda. But hey, never hurts, right? CYA- cover your booty!

I have a FF teacher afraid of lice, swears her room is infested with them 24/7/365. She cracks me up. I told her you do realize after 24hrs without a host, they die, right? So when you leave Friday, they'll be dead by Monday. then I informed her that we can't exclude just for nits and she was furious... oops!

Me, on the phone: Hi this is Wyvy from the land of tiny people. I have your tiny person here who has some small red bumps on their arm that are itchy and sore that he/she said were there this AM, did you notice it before school? Guardian: Actually I'm a retired school nurse, so what do you think it is? But... if you were a school nurse, you know I DON'T DX?! Oh, and some of that conversation may be paraphrased. Guys, I have 32 work days until summer break! Phew!

I will definitely have to remember the cotton ball trick! I'm having a difficult time, like many of you from what I've collected in these forums, with teachers freaking about about allergies vs conjunctivitis. Right now, their concerns are valid. Several of gooey eyes in my building.

Elementary of 200+ kids. Saw way too many with pink, itchy, burning, watery eyes today. I need alcohol, for sanitary purposes and as a beverage. What's your protocol for conjunctivitis? Return after 24hrs on Rx or until they're sx free? Also, when should I start panicking?!

My job description actually specifies that I am to provide medical care for students AND staff, which surprised me. :)

Had a parent (a teacher in a different district) call me last week because she noticed her child has been down to see me a few times since break. She wanted to make sure I didn't think it was anything serious. If only the parents of my FFs were that receptive!

Thanks all, I appreciate you guys (and this board!) so much. I'll look into the books mentioned. My district has two other nurses, one of which I subbed for at the beginning of the year before getting this job. She's known as Nurse Hatchet, she's a cut/dry kind of lady. Before break, I felt so bored with daily tasks. I saw kids coming and going, but that was it. Now I feel like I must've been missing something, because I keep finding misc tasks that were left unfinished by the nurse who started the year and then quit (giving me a job!) such as following kids with immunizations that aren't up to date. Speaking of, at what point do you classify it a lost cause? Of my 250 kiddos, I have a dozen that I don't have complete records on. Guidance please :|

Anyone need to vent? Here's a place to do it. I'll start. In case you don't know me, I'm one month into this job, coming from 5yrs exp in office OB/GYN. Spoke with my district nurse today re: familiar faces from one of my kinderbug classes. After that discussion, she asked me how things are going otherwise. I said great, love the little people, etc. She asked me if I figured out how to chart immunizations on my new kids in EMR, I said I think so. She asked me if I had done hearing/vision on them and charted it. Uh, lady, you're my boss. I've never done this before. How would I have known that I needed to do that? Feeling inadequate today. Thankful for weekends and for AN friends to listen. Anyone else feeling it after this week?

Been here a month, amount of orientation: ZERO. Really feeling it today, too. Rough day, very discouraged. :/

Haha! Definitely not!

Wow guys, this went from zero to sixty in two seconds! Thanks all for the input! I'll run this past my district nurse, I'm definitely on the NO side of it! It's interesting that y'all say the principal isn't my boss, I've considered him to be my boss, I guess up until now- my mistake! (One month into this job!) Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy to work for, especially compared to the boss at PP OB/GYN at my old job. This fella just likes his hands in all the pies. He just got his superintendent license, so I'm afraid he'll hit the door ASAP. You never know who will come through the door next! :| Anyway, found out when I arrived this AM that mom decided her snowflake, who was supposed to start in our preK class in a couple weeks, will be homeschooled for the remainder of this school year because she doesn't think he's ready. Crisis averted, for now, and lesson learned! Will store all this in my memory bank for next year if/when kiddo (mom) is "ready".

Private practice OB/GYN, worked there for 5yrs- 3yrs as MA, 2yrs as LPN. Loved the job and patients, hated the drama!

So since Principal is adamant that calling 911 is the answer, how would you suggest that it is unnecessary and just make a call home? What's the rationale? I'd run it past my district nurse to see what she would recommend, but I'm afraid Principal would see that as going behind his back. (New to this job, been here a month!)

District Rep (principal was out of the building) instructed mother to get written order from doctor on what would need to be done in this event and we would review it, but I just shook my head. Since mom is comfortable doing it herself, is it inappropriate to say then we will call YOU to do it, if you refuse a 911 call.

So this afternoon I sat in on an IEP for a new preschooler. Mother sts child frequently has finger joints dislocate and would like for us, the school staff (ie ME) to fix it whenever that happens. Principal sees that as a liability and sts we need to call 911 in any instances, mother is very disappointed in that decision, as she sees it to be very easy to relocate said joints and that the child is in a lot of pain until that happens. Obviously I have to go with whatever the bossman says, but what do you think, would you do it?