Do you ever just want to give up...

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Specializes in School Nursing.

Does anyone else ever just want to say "to heck with it" and just send home every kid that you are certain is faking or at least well enough to remain in class, but the teachers keep sending them down? I have a kid who has come in twice already this morning saying he threw up in the bathroom, despite my well-known rule that "I have to see it or it does not count". I just gave up and called home. The teachers are just going to keep sending the kid to me, so let the parents deal with it.

This comes on the heels of having three different teachers last week who took it upon themselves to call the parents for kids that I had cleared to go back to class (one with a sore neck, one with an eye that was sore after some dust got in it, but the eye was clear, not even red, and I think the third had a headache without fever or other signs of illness). I made all the parents do a regular dismissal through the office, which is unexcused unless they bring a doctor's note. I am not going to write an (excused) medical dismissal for a kid that I sent back to class! I asked the principal if I could send an email out asking teachers not to do this and letting them know that it results in an unexcused absence, which I do not think all of them know. This is really unfair to the parents who are usually working and leave to come get a kid who could have stayed in class, and then they have to contend with an unexcused absence on top of that. My principal said that HE would send the email, he did not want me to do it. Unless he did not copy me on that email, it has not gone out. :angryfire

I am to the point of sending every kid home that is sent to my office more than once, despite what the physical exam reveals. I am just tired of fighting these teachers on this issue! If they think they can substitute their medical judgment for mine, why am I even here????

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Specializes in LTC.

OMG ! You hit the nail right on the head ! I'm going through the exact same thing as we speak.

Parent came in this morning and tells me his daughter vomited last night and asked if she can stay in school. I told him that usually kids that vomit they must stay home for at least 24 hours however this is just a recommendation its not policy. Anyway, the student's teacher sends her to the HR with her backpack and coat on and asking if we can just send her home. My boss and I took her temp. and since temp was normal the student returned to class. The student just came in the HR a few minutes ago and still C/O of a stomach, dad was called by me and dad wants the student to stay in school. I told dad thats fine as long as she doesn't vomit or have a fever which she has neither. I told dad its up to him whether he wants to pick her up or not because right now she has no signs or sx that would suggest going home. I told dad I will let her rest for a little while and then she's going to have to go back to class.

I'm afraid of sending her back because I know the teacher is going to get ****** off. What am I supposed to do ? My boss is even backing me up on this. I won't be suprised if the teacher does call home.

So back to your question: Yes I do feel like calling for every child that comes in !

Its like we never win. Either the parent, student, or teacher is going to get upset and we can never please everyone.

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Specializes in LTC.

After checking with the student for a third time, I decided to tell dad to please pick her up. Her temp. is 99 and I don't feel like fighting with the teacher. So problem solved.

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Specializes in school nursing.

I understand. Some days can be really frustrating. I sent a memo around last week to staff explaining what criteria I use when deciding to send a student home (especially District policy - hello!!). I think staff often thinks we just decide based on our mood for the day. They will not know otherwise unless we tell them. Luckily, my principal backs me on this matter and now they have to sign their name along with an explanation of why to both me and an administrator if they call parent / or have student call parent. Hopefully, that will be nipped in the bud!

I do not try to tell teachers how to run their classroom - I am sure that would be a big no-no. However, it seems perfectly fine for everyone in the building to tell us how to run our clinic!

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Specializes in School Nursing.

i too get fed up with this stuff from teachers. after a while, i am just too tired to "fight the fight" so everyone goes home. no matter how slight something may be.....send 'em home. after a while the parent will get tired of constantly being called and they will be on to little johnny ! that usually fixes that problem. :lol2:

praiser :heartbeat

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Specializes in School Nursing.

What I really want to do is send a note to the classroom that says "Student is not doing well enough in math. He needs tutoring". What is the difference when they send a note to me saying "Student is sick. He needs to go home". You do your job and let me do mine! I don't think that one would go over too well with administration, though, so I must refrain.

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Specializes in School Nursing.
what i really want to do is send a note to the classroom that says "student is not doing well enough in math. he needs tutoring". what is the difference when they send a note to me saying "student is sick. he needs to go home". you do your job and let me do mine! i don't think that one would go over too well with administration, though, so i must refrain.
oh boy, i would love to do just as you described ! :yeah:

praiser :heartbeat

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It seems like this exact situation is a daily battle for me as well. There are a few teachers that are especially guilty of this. I have adopted the stance of 3 strikes and your out. Which means if they are in here more that 2 times to see me I call the parent. And I do tell the parent that I have checked them out, cleared them to return to class but the teacher insist they go home. That way if the parent complains that their healthy child has came home uneccissarily, its on the teacher, not me! I know these teachers get tired of them constantly complaining but seriously, what ever happened to the phrase "sit down and shut up"!! Not in those exact terms of course....:D

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Specializes in School Nursing.

That is a good policy, I just realized that I pretty much call after the 2nd visit without even realizing I was doing it! I usually step out of my office and use the phone in the main office so the child does not hear me talking to mom and want to talk to her. Usually the kid gets on the phone and can manipulate the parent into coming to get them. It seems to be about 50/50 on whether the parents decide to come get them or not.

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This is exactly what I was talking about yesterday...sorry I missed this post. My principal is going to talk to the teachers. What I have decided is this...Between having 3 kids and being a school nurse for a few years I have a pretty good BS meter! I'm going to continue to trust my medical judgement and my BS meter....Good Luck to all of us!!!

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Specializes in School Nursing, Ambulatory Care, etc..
What I really want to do is send a note to the classroom that says "Student is not doing well enough in math. He needs tutoring". What is the difference when they send a note to me saying "Student is sick. He needs to go home". You do your job and let me do mine! I don't think that one would go over too well with administration, though, so I must refrain.

Don't I wish!

:chuckle:chuckle:chuckle:chuckle

I have one teacher who is a germ-a-phob; sends every kid that sneezes or coughs! AAAHHH!!

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Specializes in Renal, Orthopedic, and School.

OK . . .get this! We have an EXAM EXEMPTION policy here! If you have an 'A' you can only miss three days, etc. The Seniors understand this policy TOO WELL, but with the seventh graders it takes going through exam time before they realize they made a big mistake. So very patiently I try to explain the exam policy at the beginning of the school year. One year I had a parent get extremely mad at me and say that whenever their child wanted to check out that I was to call the parent. I just grinned and you guessed it... chapped lips- home, stubbed toe - home, HA - home; on and on. Well after going through their seventh grade year of having to take all their exams ... the next year I don't think I could get the parent to come get the child if their life had depended on it!!! LOLOLOL

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