Say what...?

Specialties School

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I just had a student that said "I have a headache. [Teacher] said you would give me an aspirin and call my mom"

Um, no. Sorry, afebrile child. It is less than an hour until dismissal, you have no doctor's orders here, and I'm not comfortable giving anyone under age 20 aspirin. Lay down for 10, then it's back to class. And tell [teacher] that I can do my job without his/her input.

Specializes in School Nursing, Telemetry.
Every day teachers send students down right before the dismissal bell! It's ridiculous. Unless they have a fever or are vomiting, off they go. I still can't figure out why teachers do this! QUOTE

Playing Devils' Advocate here-as a nurse and a mom if my child came home from school and told me he complained to the teacher and she refused to send him to the nurse at any time of the day I would probably be a bit upset.I trust the school nurse's judgement,the teacher is there to "teach",not to assess me kid's headache,cough,fever.

For many of these kids the end of the school day is not the end of the day for them-they are getting on another bus to go to an after-school program,they are not going stright home.I would rather get a call from the nurse at that time ...

I think my biggest problem with this practice is that, often, these kids have a note that says, "So-and-so has been complaining of a headache all day." Well, why are you sending them to me at 2:00 when school is out at 2:30? If they've been complaining ALL DAY, send them after a reasonable period of time, not right before dismissal, because I'm probably going to say, "There's not much I can do for you. Lay down for 10 min and go back to class." Especially since, more often than not, the kiddos that have an after-school program or something that they go to have parents who take much longer to get back to me, so I need more than that half hour to see if they might be able to leave work early to come get kiddo. Unless they're truly sick (by my assessment) or injured, I am going to probably 9/10 stick them on the bus if they get here before parent calls.

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Every day teachers send students down right before the dismissal bell! It's ridiculous. Unless they have a fever or are vomiting, off they go. I still can't figure out why teachers do this! QUOTE

Playing Devils' Advocate here-as a nurse and a mom if my child came home from school and told me he complained to the teacher and she refused to send him to the nurse at any time of the day I would probably be a bit upset.I trust the school nurse's judgement,the teacher is there to "teach",not to assess me kid's headache,cough,fever.

For many of these kids the end of the school day is not the end of the day for them-they are getting on another bus to go to an after-school program,they are not going stright home.I would rather get a call from the nurse at that time ...

Just for the record, if a child has aftercare and there is time, I generally call the parent to let them know and give them the option to pick the child up post dismissal. If there isn't time, (Bell is ringing-child seems ok) I will call both the parent and aftercare to let them know I just saw the child, and to see how things are when they get there.

The problem is, the teachers often send students down RIGHT before or at the dismissal bell, when I don't even have time to do any sort of assessment. More than once I have had to hold a bus for some BS issue that could have been handled hours earlier. Just give me 10 minutes at least. It isn't too much to ask.

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I love when teachers stand at the door and help me assess the student..... NOT!!!

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