Question on policy for contacting parents (me being the parent)

Published

Just out of curiosity and a little vent...

We have a nurse that travels from school to school as needed, hence not super prompt attention. Today my son was hit in the neck with a basketball. No big deal right? Well, of course his neck immediately hurt. His gym teacher had him rub his neck for the remainder of class and then was sent back to his classroom with the rest of his class. Soon after his teacher noted he wasn't holding his head straight, couldn't walk properly and he complained of dizziness and pain. She called for the school nurse. She came and checked him over, saidhe was fine, told him to tell me to give him some advil when he got home, sent him back to class. His teacher was not happy. A few hours later, 1:00, the teacher calls for the nurse again. He has increased pain and dizziness. The nurse calls me at 1:45 and says she called me earlier this morning at home. She thinks he's fine and the teacher is over reacting. I have it clearly marked in all of his records to call my cellphone or his grandmother if they can't get a hold of me. I rush to school, take him out to the doctor. He was diagnosed with a mild concussion, a neck strain bad enough to get a soft collar, and various pain meds. If he isn't doing better by tomorrow, they want to x-ray him due to the amount of swelling and pain. I get home and check my messages. The nurse called my home phone at 1:30, not in the morning.

How long would you wait to contact the parents? I was under the assumption that if my child was injured at school bad enough for a nurses visit, I would be notified sooner rather than later. I think his neck is much more painful due to him keeping his head in the position he was in to try and stay out of pain. I also would have prefered to be able to dose him with some Advil/Tylenol/Motrin shortly after the incident rather than waiting 4-5 hours.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics Only.

My only thought is this:

I would want to be notified ASAP. Whether or not there was something visibly wrong with my child, I would want to be told. If they had my cell phone number and an emergency backup number, there is no reason that someone shouldnt have gotten through to me.

And the whole dizziness and pain thing..I really should of been called right away.

Just my opinion though!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I agree that a prompt phone call was in order.

I had a similar incident last week when a teacher refused to allow my daughter to call home when she began to experience a migraine. I've chosen not to leave her meds at school, since the nurse is present in the building for only 1/2 day per week. That leaves the secretary to dole out medications, which I believe to be completely inappropriate and unsafe. (My neighbor's son's Benadryl and Epi-pen could NOT be located when he had a recent exposure to peanuts!)

By the time school let out, my daughter was sick as a dog, and not tolerating oral meds.

I made it known, in no uncertain terms, to the teacher and principal that my child is to be given express permission to use the phone whenever she is ill or injured. It is NOT the place of school personnel to usurp parental authority by making decisions regarding my child's need for care/medication. It is their duty to inform me of the circumstances, so I can make decisions regarding her medical care.

They had the gall to make me fill out a new medical form, putting that in writing, as if that is a "special" request. Isn't that what every parent can and should expect?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I should say that unless a child has a history of malingering, in which case that would have been discussed with the parent and a plan agreed on, I would error on the side of calling.

We all need to conduct a complete assessment on a child who has a complaint. When we get many per day with vague complaints we need to guard against making snap judgements without doing a complete assessment.

Just out of curiosity, you are certain the person who did not take the concussion seriously was a nurse? Or was it a non licensed person occupying the "nurse's office".

Up Vote Up Vote ×

She is the school nurse. I'm just wondering what sort of policy there is in general, if any. I'll be talking to the school and her again tomorrow about how things were handled. I know his main teacher was pretty ticked about how things were handled today as well.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

If there's been a head bump with any dizziness- even momentary- I call the parents and tell them there's been a mild head bump, that the teacher is watching them and will send them if they show any concussion symptoms (I did an inservice earlier for the teachers), and let them talk to their kid if they want. However, I probably wouldn't have called for being hit in the neck. Once the dizziness started though, definitely.

I've had parents furious at me for not calling their cell instead of home, or home instead of cell, etc. If it's a serious call, i.e. the kid needs to go home/ see the doctor right away, I'll call all the numbers. I used to only call one for FYI calls and leave a message, but now I call all of them because otherwise I get yelled at.

Usually if kids want to call their parents because they don't feel well, I call the parent first, explain what's going on and my recommendation (i.e. she has a cold but no fever and isn't coughing, should probably stay in school), and let them speak to the kid afterwards. Sometimes parents will swoop in and pick up their kid for a scraped knee- but it's their kid.

So that's my two cents!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I got very conflicting stories today. The teaching staff said that it took her 3 hours to come to the school, she examined him once and I was called 30-45 minutes later. She had a whole other story.

Long story short, I made sure that I am called on my cell if anything happens at school ever again. I think we might have been able to avoid the soft collar if he'd recieved some treatment sooner rather than later.

Hopefully *fingers crossed* they will get a better system in place.

*breathing deep and moving on*

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Montana is notorious for horribly under-financing the schools, and I'll bet the school nurse is just a medical aide with little or no training. Until states smarten up and realize that kids can and do get hurt at school and do need qualified people there to help make decisions, the schools will continue to make mistakes like the one that was made with your son. When I was a teacher in Idaho (another state that doesn't finance schools) I had a student take a handful of another student's Ritalin prescription in my classroom. I rushed her to the office, and I was on the phone and had dialed the 9 (as in 911) when I was stopped by the principal and told that the kid was fine. She was not fine, and of course the school had no nurse. I was overruled and I documented it, so when I called the parents that night I could tell them EXACTLY what had happened and why I was not allowed to call 911, when their kid ended up staying overnight at a hospital. You think the schools would learn from these things........

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm sure she is an actual nurse. However, as far as I can tell she is the only nurse for the elementary schools. Scary.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

We live in California, San Diego County, and my daugher has attended two elementry middle schools and two middle schools so far and NONE of them have had an actual nurse on campus. They have a VISITING nurse that comes and does hearing/eye screenings, etc for several schools in the area, but the person at school has always been a tech.

I asked the tech at my daughter's middle school what she is, she says a "Health Tech Aide II" which apparently consists of 12 weeks of class. I believe a "Health Tech Aide I" was either 8 or 10 weeks. She tells me among other things she is qualified to give epi-pens, straight cath a child with spinal bifida and administer insulin. This just blew my mind. Luckily my daughter doesn't any health problems and has a cell phone to call me herself, otherwise I'd be more worried.

I'm sure she is an actual nurse. However, as far as I can tell she is the only nurse for the elementary schools. Scary.
Up Vote Up Vote ×

The lack of Certified School Nurses in our country is a serious problem. Only 15 states require school districts to offer nursing services, and only 1 (Delaware) requires a nurse in every school. A meager 27 states require an additional specialty certificate, and only 36 require that nurses are licensed. Even if your "nurse" is an RN, that doesn't mean that she is truly trained as a school nurse. If it took her that long to respond to the call, who knows how many different directions she must have been pulled in. True, this is no excuse, and there are always bad nurses out there, but it just exemplifies a serious problem that exists. The USA Today article has been mentioned on this forum before, but here's the link if you haven't seen it: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-12-13-school-nurses_x.htm?POE=N. It's time that parents stop tolerating the fact that medically, their children are at risk in the schools. There is too much that can happen to them during that 7 or 8 hours and you should be really angry when they are not protected. I worked really hard for my certification and to change the image of the band-aid pushing school nurse. This kind of story sets us back. Please let your Board of Education know how you feel. If you are even more motivated, gather similar stories and take it to the State Legislature, start a "movement" (to quote Arlo Guthrie in "Alice's Restaurant").

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Even if your "nurse" is an RN, that doesn't mean that she is truly trained as a school nurse. If it took her that long to respond to the call, who knows how many different directions she must have been pulled in. True, this is no excuse, and there are always bad nurses out there, but it just exemplifies a serious problem that exists.

I agree with you. Just because there is an RN behind a name doesn't guarantee good care for your child. My son is diabetic with an insulin pump. One day before P.E. he had a glucose of 60. The nurse (yes, she is a bonafide RN) sent him to P.E. and called me about 20 minutes later just as an FYI. I had to tell her to get him out of P.E. immediately and to treat that blood sugar. Fortunately, my son had enough sense to suspend his pump and get some candy out of his locker. My other son complained to the teacher that he had a sore throat and didn't feel well. He asked to go to the office and she wouldn't let him. When he got home, he had a temp of 101.7 and nearly all-white tonsils. Yep, he was positive for strep. The teachers don't want to be responsible for nursing functions (and I don't blame them), but they shouldn't make nursing decisions, either. The school systems won't put qualified nurses in place at the schools. It's a bad situation.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion