Role during school settings

When I attended school with my homecare patients, my responsibility was for nursing related care only, all academics were the teaching staff's job. Where I am from, you are the nurse, not a teacher.

I don't have too much experience w going to school w the client since I only worked day shifts for half a year once, but every teacher had a different expectation. The head start preschool had all nurses outside the classroom in a small room across the hall on standby for feeds and care. A middle school had three aides and a teacher in a life skills class of 8 kids, yet somehow I got roped into instruction and assisting w art projects, in addition to nursing care and ADLs. A third class didn't use me for instruction but I had to stay very close to her and constantly provide stimulation and distraction to keep her from hurting herself during free play, which was a lot of the day.

For another case, I accompanied an alert/oriented girl to a summer camp-like thing put on by the township. The activities were way above her first grade level and they made no effort to include her in any activities modified for her (themed weeks, like Harry Potter, for example, was over her head and she was not familiar w the series yet.) So the client sat away from the other kids in a corner with me, and played w me for three hours every day. So did her twin sister who also wasn't ready for the program, and was not my responsibility. I tried to talk to the college students who were running the program to help them get included, but they complained about me to their director who called the parents to complain about me. The parents, however, were grateful that I brought it to their attention that they were wasting their money on a program that was providing nothing for her. Through that experience I learned that when you go somewhere w a client, unless you want to deal with a lot of drama and be seen as the bad-guy troublemaker who's putting her nose in where it doesn't belong, you just keep your mouth shut and deal with whatever program the client gets.

One case I was on the child was in Kindergarten - the child was alert & oriented just a little slower than the other students. I was there for her safety, medications & feedings. I just sat in the back of the classroom and kept my eye on her. I never got involved with any of the teaching.

When I first went to school with my patient, the teacher talked with me about my role. We both knew what my limitations were but I had no problem interacting the same way as the staff. It would have been problematic for me to sit away from everybody and ignore what was going on in the classroom because I had to be within arm's reach of my patient anyway. A major component of my duties was the patient's physical safety. There was never any problem and I certainly enjoyed myself. One of the best extended care assignments I've had.

This.

My client had adaptive devices to help with communication; the teachers made sure if there was an activity that wasn't appropriate for her, there was an activity that I would help engage with her, or I would take her on a walk, just to keep her stimulated; things I would do if she wasn't in school and was in the home setting.

Thanks for all the replies so far! It really makes me feel better about how I've perceived my role while there.