School nurses NEED to be in every school because I'm tired of having my hands tied

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

after 2.5 years as working as a school health aide i conclude that every school needs a school nurse. lately i've disappointed of how my boss wants me to handle things. for example: student comes in with a small, round, itchy patch on cheek. i suspect ringworm. normally, for anything like this we do a medical exclusion for diagnosis. once again this is what i suspect and i never document on the exclusion form" he has ringworm" instead i document small, round, rash on face" and 10 times out of 10 the doc writes back saying " dx: ring worm". anyway, ofcourse since i'm not the nurse i call my nurse ( boss) to describe what i see. she tells me to send an exclusion. i also talked with mom to see what mom says. mom says she " thinks" key word " thinks" it may be from another condition, however she's not sure. when asked what condition she thinks it is she said she forgot. so once again i reported this back to the nurse and she says pull back the exclusion. i'm thinking why ? mom clearly is not sure what this is and for the rash to be round, itchy, and have a definite ring around it that is a red flag . however, once again my hands are tied.

this is just an example of how sometimes i don't agree with her or how she handles something. yes she's a rn and yes i'm just a cna and i don't have a problem with that. i just don't see why in this case he should not be excluded.

stevie wonder can even see that he has ring worm !

oh well. i just keep telling myself 5 more days left at my job and 9 more weeks i'll be a nurse.

so yes, i do believe that nurses should be in every health room because i constantly feel like teachers, parents, the principal, and now my boss don't trust my observations or judgement. maybe if there was a nurse in every health room we wouldn't have to deal with these types of issues or atleast i wouldn't.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Yes, there should be a nurse in every school! I just wish the bean counters saw it the same way :)

BTW, at my district we do not exclude for ringworm anymore, it just has to be covered and we recommend treatment. It is funny to see the kid with a bandaid on the cheek, though! We do exclude for ringworm of the scalp, I guess they consider it more contagious?

[BunnyBunnyBSNRN, ASN, BSN]

Nursing Student,

In my district, we have a nurse at every school except the Alternative campus, and guess what??? Teacher and parents give me the same grief! Just today I called a grandparent (couldn't get a hold of mom) and informed her that the child's ankle is swollen and she reports pain with palpatation. Also, informed of slight limp favoring left foot. Grandparent told me the child has big ankles and that it's not swollen. (eye roll) (grrr)

this happened another time this year (different student) and the parent told me I "never know what i'm talking about and should get out of nursing". (her words) Turns out, the student not only BROKE her ankle, she tore up the ligaments and had to have surgery! (again, eye roll)

I could go on and on....

Hope it gets better for you.

Sara

[NurseLoveJoy88, ASN, RN]

Thanks for the support every one.

[Keepstanding, ASN, RN]

i couldn't agree with you more nursingstudent19. every school needs and deserves a school nurse. i am an lpn and i feel i do very well at my job. you are very valuable to each one of your students. even if we don't get the thanks we deserve. hope you have a smooth ending to this school year !

praiser :heartbeat