I am butting heads with one particular teacher right now about requiring students to bring notes to the clinic. The teacher "doesn't have time" to write a note, she is "busy with other students." And after all I don't have a lot of kids in the clinic whenever she walks by! I get so heated about this I can't articulate myself clearly, so I was hoping I could get some other school nurses to help me wrangle together exactly why students need notes.
For me, a note:
- shows the student did not just wander out of class/tell the teacher he went to bathroom and instead came to clinic (both of which have happened)
- shows the teacher actually spoke to the student and didn't just send them to the clinic to get them out of the classroom
- provides me with a venue to communicate with teachers, as I cannot easily leave clinic to get to classroom all the time - teachers can express exact concerns, and I can let them know of any plans/communications to parents
- in cases of head bumps, gives me the child's name and the teacher's name, so that if I do not know the student I can ask those questions and determine if memory is affected
Beyond all this, that's just the rule that has been instituted for the clinic, and I think it's very poor for school discipline in general for a teacher to show students it's okay to break the rules if you don't want to follow them.
I honestly do not usually have multiple children in the clinic at one time - thankfully, as my clinic is small. But today it's been 4 at a time all morning so having this one teacher keep sending random children who burst in and start talking when I'm already talking to another student . . . let's just say I'm aggravated, and not being my best self right now. Just writing all this out has helped, but I would still greatly appreciate any feedback.
One of our schools had a child come to the clinic without the teachers knowledge. No note. Well, the nurse decided the child needed to go home cause he was sick. The nurse told him he would be going home. The little boy walked right out the back door and started walking home.....the teacher had no clue where he was or that he was missing and of course the nurse thought he was going back to class. A good samaritan saw the child within a few minutes by the road walking and called the police.
If the child had a note then the teacher would be well aware that little Johnny was out of the classroom and at the nurses office. Therefore, she might have called or stopped by the clinic looking for little Johnny after a few minutes of him not coming back.
Also, notes keep kids from coming to see me without a reason. Also, I send the notes back home to the parents so they know their child was seen in my clinic.
NutmeggeRN, BSN
2 Articles; 4,743 Posts
I HATE when I lose my kids!