Hi, everyone! Long time lurker here, just signed up!
1. How long have you been a school nurse? just under a year
2. How many students do you serve? about 540 give or take
3. How many schools do you serve? just one thank goodness!
4. What age ranges do you serve? PK-5th
5. What educational background do you have? (ADN, BSN, MSN, LPN) BSN (second bachelor's)
6. Are you board certified or currently working on it? Not working on it yet, but plan to as soon as I have 2 years under my belt!
7. What are some of the most challenging students you have seen? 300 lb 5th grader, he has gained the last 100 lbs in exactly one year. Mom is probably 450 lbs. with serious medical problems. No interventions have worked with this family. It breaks my heart but I can't make them want to be healthy. Other than that, pretty much the norm.
8. What do you feel you see most frequently? headaches and stomachaches. Most are minor and magically resolve with 10 min. on the couch:cool:
9. What are your goals (in general and in school health)? Goal for this year, now that screenings done and shot records updated - I want to get in the classrooms and do some teaching. I want to hold a BP screening for staff in honor of Febuary's heart month. And I want to try to hold a thermometer drive or some sort (will probably start a thread on this one sooner or later!) My school is in a low income area and we have 90% that qualify for reduced or free lunch. Many kids I send home with febrile illnesses do not have a thermometer at home to check temps.
10. Do you do screenings? If so, what, who, and when? Yes, vision and hearing for PK, K, 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Acanthosis for 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Height and weight for everyone I do the other screenings for (have to do some grades but others are at my discretion, it is easier to do them all!)
11. How do you document (paper, electronic)? Mostly paper.
7. What are some of the most challenging students you have seen? 300 lb 5th grader, he has gained the last 100 lbs in exactly one year. Mom is probably 450 lbs. with serious medical problems. No interventions have worked with this family. It breaks my heart but I can't make them want to be healthy. Other than that, pretty much the norm.
Great to meet everyone!!!:heartbeat
1- Welcome to our small world!
2- We had a child like that in one of our school districts. They finally had to make a CPS report, mother still failed to do anything, and the child went to a foster family. He's lost a lot of weight and is much healthier, but the mother didn't understand or didn't care that her actions (or lack of) were making the child unhealthy.
Has he been eval'd by a doctor? Diabetes is screaming in my mind!!! If you've all made contacts and she's failed to act, it's time to report for neglect.
2- We had a child like that in one of our school districts. They finally had to make a CPS report, mother still failed to do anything, and the child went to a foster family. He's lost a lot of weight and is much healthier, but the mother didn't understand or didn't care that her actions (or lack of) were making the child unhealthy.
Has he been eval'd by a doctor? Diabetes is screaming in my mind!!! If you've all made contacts and she's failed to act, it's time to report for neglect.
I was thinking maybe Prader-Willi. It's a chromosomal disorder which makes a person unable to control their eating and can cause developmental delays. I've worked with parents who had to put key locks on every cabinet in their house, and the refrigerator too. One family would dutifully take all the food out to the car every night, just to keep the child from getting contraband.
I was thinking maybe Prader-Willi. It's a chromosomal disorder which makes a person unable to control their eating and can cause developmental delays. I've worked with parents who had to put key locks on every cabinet in their house, and the refrigerator too. One family would dutifully take all the food out to the car every night, just to keep the child from getting contraband.
Is it hereditary? My assumption (I KNOW what happens when I assume, but I still can't help it)- Mom has poor control of her diet, and either refuses to accept the dangers of obesity or just ignores it, and her son is suffering because of it. Sad either way.
Specializes in LDRP/Nursery/Peds/Gyn, school nursing.
1. How long have you been a school nurse? In March, it'll be a year
2. How many students do you serve? 1500
3. How many schools do you serve? 3 (2 elem, 1 middle)
4. What age ranges do you serve? K4- 8th grade
5. What educational background do you have? (ADN, BSN, MSN, LPN) BSN
6. Are you board certified or currently working on it? No
7. What are some of the most challenging students you have seen? Frequent flyers who do actually have underlying health problems-- but they are used to seeking care for every little ache and pain. Some of these kids don't seem to understand that if you bump your knee, it will hurt and that's a normal part of life.
8. What do you feel you see most frequently? Tummy aches, headaches, sore throats
9. What are your goals (in general and in school health)? VERY short-term: Snow day tomorrow (fingers crossed!!); Short term: make it through the year alive, start some classroom education; still deciding if school nursing is for me or if I need to get back to bedside nursing.
10. Do you do screenings? If so, what, who, and when? None are state mandated. I've expanded our hearing and vision screenings to K4, K, 3rd and 5th grade.
11. How do you document (paper, electronic)? We have a system that would support 100% electronic charting, but it's too hard to actually convert everything because I have secretaries and volunteers pinch-hitting for me when I'm not at a particular school. Health records, vaccinations are elect, office visits and meds are paper.
Funny Story of the Day: A little kid came in at lunchtime stating he was about to throw up in the cafeteria. After my full assessment of him, he admitted that his friend's hot lunch was stinky and made him want to puke. Upon my own visit to the cafeteria, I came down with similar symptoms-- the aroma from the broccoli-cheese-rice casserole hit ya at the door!!!!
Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN
1 Article; 1,978 Posts
Hi, everyone! Long time lurker here, just signed up!
1. How long have you been a school nurse? just under a year
2. How many students do you serve? about 540 give or take
3. How many schools do you serve? just one thank goodness!
4. What age ranges do you serve? PK-5th
5. What educational background do you have? (ADN, BSN, MSN, LPN) BSN (second bachelor's)
6. Are you board certified or currently working on it? Not working on it yet, but plan to as soon as I have 2 years under my belt!
7. What are some of the most challenging students you have seen? 300 lb 5th grader, he has gained the last 100 lbs in exactly one year. Mom is probably 450 lbs. with serious medical problems. No interventions have worked with this family. It breaks my heart but I can't make them want to be healthy. Other than that, pretty much the norm.
8. What do you feel you see most frequently? headaches and stomachaches. Most are minor and magically resolve with 10 min. on the couch:cool:
9. What are your goals (in general and in school health)? Goal for this year, now that screenings done and shot records updated - I want to get in the classrooms and do some teaching. I want to hold a BP screening for staff in honor of Febuary's heart month. And I want to try to hold a thermometer drive or some sort (will probably start a thread on this one sooner or later!) My school is in a low income area and we have 90% that qualify for reduced or free lunch. Many kids I send home with febrile illnesses do not have a thermometer at home to check temps.
10. Do you do screenings? If so, what, who, and when? Yes, vision and hearing for PK, K, 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Acanthosis for 1st, 3rd, and 5th. Height and weight for everyone I do the other screenings for (have to do some grades but others are at my discretion, it is easier to do them all!)
11. How do you document (paper, electronic)? Mostly paper.
Great to meet everyone!!!:heartbeat