Rules about personal food in the health room...

[tengelman]

Ok, do any of you guys have any rules that are legit due to "health regulations" that you cannot have/eat your own personal food in the health room?

I've googled looking for the answer to this question and I'm getting nothing.

There are a group of teachers who I am friends with who come into my office during their lunch period. I have a table that is away from all medical supplied and the student's "sick" area and cot. They never stay if there is an ill student or if a student arrives they leave, but if I do not have a student we like to chat while they eat their lunch.

We have now been told by administration that it is inappropriate due to health regulations and it must stop.

Has anyone else ran across this issue and if so is it legit or is it just a "preference" of our administration/district and they are just trying to cover themselves and say it is a regulation??

For extra information I work in an elementary school in Missouri.

Let me know what you guys think! I'm eager to see your answers.

[schooldistrictnurse]

I'm guessing its a preference. Food odors might make a sick child who comes into the health room feel even worse. A child might not enter if there are adults eating and conversing in the room. Who knows? All I know is that it's healthier for you to leave the health room for 20 minutes or whatever you can spare and eat your lunch in another location. Have a great year!

[Nurse ABC]

Well I know in our hospital on our floor we were not allowed to eat or drink at the nurse's station due to health regulations so it's probably a similar thing. No food around areas designated for health issues/procedures. I've never had anyone say anything about it in a school setting though and have had students eat their lunch in the nurse's office many times. Heck, I eat my own lunch there, otherwise, I probably wouldn't get lunch!! Maybe your administration was told this because they are about to get an inspection of some sort or maybe someone complained for whatever reason so they looked into it and found where it said that but it's never been enforced sort of thing.

[Jolie, BSN]

This is not simply an administrative preference. It is a food safety regulation enforced by your county or state health department.

The US Food & Drug Administration publishes the Food Code, a model for jurisdictions at all levels of government, providing them with a scientifically sound technical and legal basis for regulating food services. Local and state regulators use the Food Code to develop or update their own food safety rules and to be consistent with national food regulatory policy.

Since your school (or hospital) food service department is regulated by your local or state health department, all areas of the institution must comply with the same safety guidelines, or the certification of the food service areas is jeopardized.

This is similar to JCAHO, which enforces the same standards of patient care and safety for both med-surg and ortho units, for example. And like JCAHO, a deficiency in one area (your office) can place the health department certification for the institution as a whole at risk.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

With all the crud that flies around the office.....I never eat here! Ill go without first!

[Wave Watcher]

It's impossible for me to leave my office for a lunch break. I tried going to the staff work room where most of the staff will eat but the kids will see me and stand at the door till I get up. Therefore, I go into my office during lunch, put a sign on the door and shut the door. I always clean my desk off with sanitizer before I eat and then clean it again after.