Scabies? Letter to all students or not?

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I had my first case of scabies in an elementary Special Ed. class. I had made the decision not to send a letter home to all families, due to reading other posts. The teacher is very upset with my decision and went to the Principal. Do many of you not send out either? What kind of policy do you have on this? Is it specifically for scabies or do you have a general policy? I am very new in this role and there are not many policies in place. Looking for help.

Thanks

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I haven't been able to find a policy at my district so I googled. This talks about which things mean exclusion. In my experience (especially with lice) teachers overreact.

http://www.scdhec.gov/health/disease/schoolexclusion.htm

Scabies

Children with scabies should be out of school until treatment/medication has been applied. A Medical Note is required to return.

I also found this: If someone in your family is being treated for scabies, all other members of the household should be treated, too. . . .

Most children can return to school the day after the treatment is complete.

So maybe letting other families know is a good idea.

I'd check with your local health dept.

I also like this, since I brought up lice:

Head Lice

School-age with head lice, who are not medically fragile , should be sent home at the end of the school day. Your child may return with a Parent Note after her first treatment with a school-approved lice-removal product. Your child’s school may recommend options for head lice treatment.

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I should let you do your own google search :coollook: There's lots of info out there. I'm a new school nurse too - it can be hard to know what to do.

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/s2099753.shtml?cat=565

A warning about a scabies problem at a middle school in Spencerport has consignment shop owners upset.

A letter went out to parents saying consignment shops could be a possible source of the problem. The district has since sent home a revised letter that does not mention consignment shops.

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Yea- it's hard to know if appropriate or not. You could send a letter home for everything (strep, impetigo, pink eye, etc). They are all contagious. I don't want to bend for one person throwing a fit, but also afraid that all of a sudden there will be several more cases and then there will be more of an uproar. That happened with Lice in our schools. We had a HUGE outbreak this year, but it seemed even MANY letters home, it didn't make too much of a difference. I am not confident enough in this job to decide. Ugh.....

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Yea- it's hard to know if appropriate or not. You could send a letter home for everything (strep, impetigo, pink eye, etc). They are all contagious. I don't want to bend for one person throwing a fit, but also afraid that all of a sudden there will be several more cases and then there will be more of an uproar. That happened with Lice in our schools. We had a HUGE outbreak this year, but it seemed even MANY letters home, it didn't make too much of a difference. I am not confident enough in this job to decide. Ugh.....

Have you tried contacting NASN (National Association of School Nurses)?

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

I tend not to send letters out for one isolated case unless the potential is very high that I will see more. The widespread panic that ensues usually does not out weigh the benefits of notifying parents.

I have a reference book:

Managing Infectious Diseases in Child Care and Schools (here's a link to the book itself: http://aapredbook.aappublications.org/resources/midsheets.dtl )

That I purchased from School Health and have found it very useful in helping me decide course of action when dealing with a potentially contagoius issue.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Our state has an Infection Control Manual that I refer to all the time for occasions just like this.

Here is a link if you want to take a look - not sure if every state has one, but they probably should.

http://www.k12.wa.us/.../infectiousdiseasecontrolguide3-11-04.pdf

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Specializes in School Nurse.
Our state has an Infection Control Manual that I refer to all the time for occasions just like this.

Here is a link if you want to take a look - not sure if every state has one, but they probably should.

www.k12.wa.us/.../infectiousdiseasecontrolguide3-11-04.pdf

Oops - can't get the whole link to work - you will need to copy and paste.

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Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD.
I tend not to send letters out for one isolated case unless the potential is very high that I will see more. The widespread panic that ensues usually does not out weigh the benefits of notifying parents.

I completely agree.I've had exactly 3 known cases of scabies this year. We had a so-called epidemic of lice this year (according to the kindergarten teachers.) The "epidemic" was comprised of 3 girls from one family and 4 girls from another. We had less than 10 other cases in the entire 175 days we've been in school. As panicked as the entire staff has been over our "lice epidemic", I can only imagine how parents would have reacted. Unfortunately, i have not made any headway in calming their fears. The mere mention of lice is enough to send my teachers and admins screaming for the hills.:uhoh3:

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Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

when working in a homeless shelter, i got scabies.:eek: i had cut the end of my thumb on a knife chopping, and assumed it had become infected. no itching, but it was sore. i took one of our cats to the vet that

same day, and he said it was scabies.:eek: i washed my hands and he applied the veterinary equivalent of what he referred to as "meds to get rid of little creepy crawlies." (can you tell he had kindergarten

aged twins?:lol2::D) and send me home with a bottle.

he also said it was possible for cats to get scabies and much less likely, but still possible, for the dog

to get them. he said to handle the cats and dog as little as possible without wearing gloves, until i was

positive i was scabies-free.

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Specializes in school nursing.
I tend not to send letters out for one isolated case unless the potential is very high that I will see more. The widespread panic that ensues usually does not out weigh the benefits of notifying parents.

I have a reference book:

Managing Infectious Diseases in Child Care and Schools (here's a link to the book itself: http://aapredbook.aappublications.org/resources/midsheets.dtl )

That I purchased from School Health and have found it very useful in helping me decide course of action when dealing with a potentially contagoius issue.

Ditto. 2-3 cases is not an OUTBREAK in my book. Sending letters home tends to throw everyone in panic mode, which is just unnecessary.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Psych.

Thank you for the resource!

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