"Made in a facility that processes nuts"

OldDude · Mar 21, 2016

I think your post answers your own question. Be straight forward with exactly how this new information arrived and remove that food from availability. Trying to sugar coat it or "spin" it or explain it away will only get you backed into a corner.

You weren't aware of the possible exposure, you were informed of it, you eliminated it - end of story.

Whether there had, or had not been, real exposure and there were no allergic reactions prior isn't relevant.

chare · Mar 21, 2016

Why isn't the principal doing this?

I'm not a school nurse, so might not fully understand, but why isn't the principal making the notifications? I understand the health implications, but to me this seems an administrative matter.

arnoldlayne · Mar 21, 2016

Thanks for your replies. I have to say, the school culture here in this private school is such that the parents are EXTREMELY entitled. They will argue with me on just about everything because they're wealthy. Even when it comes to something as simple as picking up a child with a fever, they somehow try to twist it into being the nurse's fault that the child had the fever in the first place. These are literally high class thugs. I've had a mom argue with me for about 20 minutes, with her husband on speaker because they didn't think it was necessary for them to pick up their child who was severely wheezing all day, and even after med. administration the wheezing didn't clear. They casually told me 'he wheezes all the time' and that they want to go light on the meds. The staff doesn't even support me; they tell me to come check out a child for head injury and then they warn me not to call the parents. I've had a teacher here force me to take the phone from a child who was talking to her mother, just because, as he says, they don't allow children to talk to on the phone with their parents. I've only been here for about a month now, but it's halfway through the year and I only have about half the medication forms I need, the other half won't bring them in and they'll make up all sorts of lies and excuses such as, the physician will charge them money for the form (for christ sake, if that is even true, these parents sure could afford to pay). My boss who is the head of health and safety literally tells me she's busy every single time I approach her, before I even open my mouth, she says she's busy. All day, she runs around looking flustered, but I notice most of the times, she's just chit chatting with every staff member she can get a hold of. I even asked her if she had a minute to go over something very simple and she flat out told me, 'no' and then went about talking about how her coffee pot went missing again and this and that. I still don't have my permanent computer because it's been 'sent out for repairs' going on a month now so documenting is difficult because my computer is so slow. Sorry for the winded reply...the principal critiqued our last nurse for being too vigilant about vaccinations and that she was too unpopular with staff and parents!! Well I wonder why? Admin isn't doing anything because they don't want to do anything that might make themselves 'unpopular' with parents. I've never been to a school where nearly every parent has gone into a long argument with me and have involved admin merely because they didn't want to pick up their child.

peacockblue · Mar 21, 2016

Sounds like it is time to polish your resume.

arnoldlayne · Mar 21, 2016

i'm gonna try to stick it out for a bit, straighten things outâ€¦what really puts me off though is that all the staff keep bad mouthing the last nurse and yes, it seems like she had a bit of an odd personality, but aside from that, seems like they just criticize her for doing her job.

Rubor · Mar 21, 2016

My son goes to private school so I get where you are coming from about SOME of the attitudes (we deal with attitudes no matter what though). I would definitely bring up the safety and law aspect to get your admin behind you. Do you have a PTA or a parent group you can meet with? Is there a newsletter? I think you need to get your face out there, get your name out there in a different way and than typical. This most likely is a small tight knit group?

tining, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2016

Back to the OP - I recently became allergic to peanuts/tree nuts, at 50yo - seriously. I am luck it is only a rash. I recently had a milky way bar and my rash perked up. Milky way is made in a facility that processes nuts, so I would err on caution. I also had a student with a 'mild peanut allergy' per mom (no meds at school) eat a cookies & cream egg by Hershey's. She reacted from that as well, full anaphylactic reaction.

Your post about the climate in your school sounds toxic and not safe for your license. Run don't walk.