Any school nurses out there with 40 years?

Guests · Sep 24, 2018

My standard question is "would you stop playing with your friends if this happened at home"? Most times I get no response and they just turn out of my door. I don't mind seeing them, but the really do need to grow a spine.

I'm totally going to use this one! I never doubt something is up when they come to me at recess, but any other time of the day, if it seems like a silly reason to come see me I am asking them this.

Cattz, ADN · Sep 24, 2018

My standard question is- "What would your mom/dad/whoever do for this at home?" If they say "nothing" which is usually what they say. Then, I say, "Ok, then it doesn't warrant you missing class time for.".... or something like that depending on the age/situation.

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2018

I have no where near the years of you guys, but I'm a second degree nurse and worked higher ed for many years before going to nursing school.

I'm in year 6 of school nursing. And SO MUCH has changed with my visit data in that time. I can't image how it has changed for those you in the game much, much longer than I.

But it isn't just the kids. It's the teachers that let the kids come to me. I had one student visit me 4 times yesterday, including getting a pass to see me 3 minutes before dismissal. This student did not need to see me. Student expect I can cure the common cold. But apparently, so do some of the teachers as well.

And while I'm not 40 yet (but pretty close), I'm at least a decade older than several teachers. And that feels like way more sometimes.

Sorry for the slight hijack of your thread for a moment :).

kidzcare · Sep 25, 2018

There's a lot more to the increase in diagnosis of depression/anxiety/other mental health issues. A huge part of it is an increase in recognition of mental health issues as opposed to there actually being more. The movie The Breakfast Club came out in 1985 and all the lead characters would probably meet the criteria for depression. It's not new, it is simply better recognized.

There probably has been a higher instance of depression and anxiety as well, for a variety of reasons. Social media allows kids to see the highlights of their peers' lives without any behind the scene reference and compare it to their own life. Even a child without social media hears about the lives of their classmates while at school and still compares (kids brag and exaggerate by nature). The economy has been terrible with repercussions that will last generations and parents are probably experiencing depression as well and kids pick up on their cues.

Coping mechanisms that were taught in decades past (Man up! Stop crying! Kids should be seen and not heard!) have been found to have long lasting negative impacts on children as they become teens and adults who hide their emotions instead of expressing them. Not all, of course, but many of these become an adult who flies off the handle at a minor infarction after a build up of emotions- road rage, workplace violence, domestic violence, yelling at their children over minor issues. Telling a child that they are being selfish for feeling emotions is not cool. Helping that child see that little emotions don't need to become big emotions goes a long way.

Still, at the end of the day, a mosquito bite should not come to the health office (I'm assuming that you can't hand out hydrocortisone or anything similar). The teacher needs to intervene there and determine what ailments require a health office visit.

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Sep 25, 2018

There's a lot more to the increase in diagnosis of depression/anxiety/other mental health issues. A huge part of it is an increase in recognition of mental health issues as opposed to there actually being more. The movie The Breakfast Club came out in 1985 and all the lead characters would probably meet the criteria for depression. It's not new, it is simply better recognized.
There probably has been a higher instance of depression and anxiety as well, for a variety of reasons. Social media allows kids to see the highlights of their peers' lives without any behind the scene reference and compare it to their own life. Even a child without social media hears about the lives of their classmates while at school and still compares (kids brag and exaggerate by nature). The economy has been terrible with repercussions that will last generations and parents are probably experiencing depression as well and kids pick up on their cues.
Coping mechanisms that were taught in decades past (Man up! Stop crying! Kids should be seen and not heard!) have been found to have long lasting negative impacts on children as they become teens and adults who hide their emotions instead of expressing them. Not all, of course, but many of these become an adult who flies off the handle at a minor infarction after a build up of emotions- road rage, workplace violence, domestic violence, yelling at their children over minor issues. Telling a child that they are being selfish for feeling emotions is not cool. Helping that child see that little emotions don't need to become big emotions goes a long way.
Still, at the end of the day, a mosquito bite should not come to the health office (I'm assuming that you can't hand out hydrocortisone or anything similar). The teacher needs to intervene there and determine what ailments require a health office visit.

You make a lot of great points. While I do have an increase in visits due to some complex medical needs, much more of it is mental health related.

Last year I felt like I was drowning because we had one counselor for 500 kids and it simply wasn't enough. I became the overflow counselor and I am not trained enough I feel. Mental health was covered in nursing school, of course, but I can't soak up enough PD on the subject for my current job.

ABRN2012 · Sep 25, 2018

If there was a school nurse when I was going I never met her. But yes, the insignificant complaints are increasing yearly. It's kinda coincidental my 21 year old son, #2, was talking to me yesterday about how "everyone" has a diagnosis of depression; "...geez, anyone who is disappointed, anxious, or worried about something gets a clinical depression diagnosis." This kinda dovetails into the discussion here. I think kids are not being allowed to develop coping mechanisms, and thus, expect some kind of intervention from someone for any occurrence they experience that is perceived to be "negative" to them.

Yes Yes Yes! I say that 100 times a day. No one knows how to cope with anything. More than 50% of the students health forms came back with "anxiety/depression" marked. Hello they are in elementary school!

And they do expect an intervention for everything. And they are not learning the difference between discomfort and actual pain. And for some reason this bothers me more than it does anybody else in the schools I work at.

cowboysandangels, BSN · Sep 26, 2018

My favorite is when they come to me when they hold their pencil too tight and it makes their finger hurt. Just this morning I had a little one come in because her hairband was stuck in her hair. I look at it as job security!

Amethya · Sep 26, 2018

I honestly think my Middle School school nurse has been there for at least 25 or more years. She's still there to this day, I talked to her as a cohort for one of my students that transferred from her school and she's going to be there when my kid goes there next year.