School nurses, what is the worst emergency you've had?

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Just had the worst one I've had since I've been here. Kids got into a fight, hit cement, kept hitting him while on the ground... Pinpoint pupils, in and out of consciousness, bleeding... so a head injury.

Got flown to a different hospital.

I'm shook up to be honest. I always feel like I am not doing enough.

Do you guys have any extra training for emergencies like such?

Specializes in School Nursing, Home Health.

Oh my goodness Dimple58! So it was a complete accident? Wow

HazelLPN, wow, kuddos to that nurse!

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On 10/28/2019 at 11:51 AM, ohiobobcat said:

I had a student put another student in a choke hold and then let go. The student in the choke hold lost consciousness and hit their head twice on the way to the floor: once of the table, once off the chair. Student was in and out of consciousness, had vomited all over himself and the floor and table. Face was so swollen from the injuries sustained while falling to the floor that I couldn't tell who he was.

I called mom to check on him as he was being Lifeflighted from our local hospital to a higher level of care. He was diagnosed with a concussion and was back in school within 2 weeks.

What happened to the choker?

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On 10/28/2019 at 12:50 PM, k1p1ssk said:

This almost exact scenario happened in my high school when I was a senior. Football players, in the locker room. The sophomore did some muttering under his breath about something the senior did on the field. Senior lost it, put the kid in a chokehold, let go, kid hit the locker room bench, and then the concrete floor. Was in and out of consciousness for several days in the hospital, spent a total of 2 weeks in ICU.

The senior was eventually expelled. But not before purposefully flipping his truck (WITH OTHER KIDS IN IT) so daddy would buy him a new one (another kids was bigger than his).

This same guy was drag racing with a classmate and his girlfriend while high on coke and the two vehicles crashed and the girl ended up paraplegic.

Oh, and in 6th grade, this same boy kicked me as hard as he could in the ribs because I was being "disrespectful" by sitting down in the state house on a field trip.

Upstanding citizen, he is...

Charges should have been brought by all of his victims.

What does he do with his life now?

On 10/30/2019 at 12:29 PM, amsolomon said:

I had mine last month. Teacher collapsed in the hallway. As soon as I walked in the building, I'm told, we need you we have an emergency. I go down the hallway, water bottle and bag in my hand to see a teacher lying unresponsive faced down in the hallway (they never tell you extent of the emergency). Sent someone to get AED machine. There was another teacher present so I say to her, can you help me turn him over, her response was I don't want to hurt him because of the way his arm is positioned. We need a man to help. I'm thinking, he's unconscious, the least of his worries is us hurting his arm. I finally get him turned over, attach AED machine, then have to begin CPR. After awhile, I start getting tired, I'm asking does anyone know CPR, to switch out? No response. Luckily the counselor came around the corner (after being turned away by principal) and was able to take over. Teacher passed away, but I knew it didn't look good. Coworkers asking me, do I think he'll make it & why he's not waking up? (EMS had arrived and were working on him). I'm thinking, do you really need me to explain to you as an adult, that sometimes people die despite good care. And when I thought about it that same teacher who said we needed a man to roll the teacher over knew CPR because she was in the CPR class that I arranged last year. ?

She might have panicked or felt inadequate or didn't like the other teacher or who knows?

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On 10/30/2019 at 3:00 PM, Avill said:

Oh my goodness! Are you okay?

And geesh, I understand that these things are scary but if somebody is asking you to just turn somebody over, do it!

Hey guys, did you guys see about the little boy in California who just passed away because he sustained a brain injury during a fight?

That could have been the kid here! But luckily it wasn't and it was just a concussion.

Still, kids don't realize death can seriously happen after a fight...

Maybe she feared hurting the spine, not just the neck. Or feared she herself would get hurt.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
On 10/24/2019 at 9:59 AM, Cas1in72 said:

I wrote about it 2 years ago. Search " Suicide attempt while at school" This forum honestly kept me together after. The support of people who understand how hard school nursing is was more important than I could have imagined.

On 10/24/2019 at 4:48 PM, Avill said:

I looked for it but didn't find it?

Could be that some of the older posts haven't been added to the search index since the move to the new platform. Easiest way to find your threads is to go to your own profile, click on the content tab, and narrow it down to topics.

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Specializes in kids.

I remember ed another one...kid slipped going down the stairs ...ended up w a fx skull

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Specializes in pediatrics, school nursing.
On 11/16/2019 at 6:58 PM, Kooky Korky said:

Charges should have been brought by all of his victims.

What does he do with his life now?

I believe he was arrested each time; Somehow daddy got him out of the first two with expulsion/probation on the choke hold, and simple license suspension on the truck flipping incident (he was under 18 both of those times). On the third incident, he went to jail for several years and lost his license for another 10, I believe and the judge assigned to the case told him that if he ever was involved in anything nefarious again, he would personally make sure he was assigned to every single case moving forward until he retired. So far, he hasn't been caught doing anything illegal since his release from prison. He works for his father's contracting business, I'm sure.

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Specializes in School nursing.

Changing my answer on this thread after last week.

Student with type 1 heart block. No meds, just followed by cardiologist since diagnosis a couple of years ago. Student experiences occasional chest, often resolves in <15 minutes and if not, I call home, dismiss and student followed up by doc.

Student visited me. Chest discomfort >1 hour. HR=110, Respirations=18, Heart rhythm regular irregular. Parent called, arranging for pick-up, appointment made in cardiac clinic for that afternoon. I turn to update note, student sitting down in my office, leaning back against my wall, talking to me. Turn back around and student suddenly slumped, unresponsive. Heart rate and respirations unchanged, but complete syncope. No response to sternal rub.

You better believe I was on the phone with 911 right way and ready to sprint for my AED. I try one more sternal rub after hanging up phone, student wakes up, no memory of event, vitals the same. EMS there 2 minutes later.

Student back in school today, okay. But the adrenaline stuck with me for hours :).

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