I don't post too often, but I have to vent today. I am soooo frustrated with the students who are completely unwilling to try to make it through the school day. Typically they are frequent fliers that are not so frequent to arouse too much suspicion; they often come early on in the day. They often have a stomach ache (or any other complaint, really) that is completely asymptomatic- no fever, abd nontender, + bowel sounds, no N/V/D, had breakfast. So, let them rest- not helping. Use the restroom- not helping. Drink some water- not helping. I give them saltines (yes, those saltines)- not helping. I give them Tums (yep, I can give that with parental permission)- not helping. I give them juice- not helping. At this point, it has been an hour!!! Finally, I get so frustrated that I have them call their parents who will pick them up, after I describe to them their (lack of) symptoms.
Really?!
I just had a student who stated he had 'uncontrollable barfing.' I told him to rest for a bit. No barfing. Not even dry heaving. He didn't even run to the bathroom and pretend that he puked. Hey kid, have you ever heard of the Noro Virus?! Now THAT is uncontrollable barfing. Show me that, and you can go home. Actually, please don't show me that.
For the record, I love my job. My worst days as a school nurse and infinitely better than my best days at the hospital.
I now see that much of the calling you do is basically because staff/students pesters you to the point that you have to give them SOME intervention lest you appear that you're not doing your job.
YES!YES!YES! A parent who gets it!
It's because the teachers are over dramatic and think we can cure it all and the whole "we can't let our precious babies feel one ounce of discomfort ever" mentality that we talked about in another thread.
Today I had one of my teachers bring a child AGAIN for their allergies. Puffy, watery eyes, congested, looks plain miserable but does she really need to bring him every day for me "to just check him"? I'm like "yup, still looks like allergies." Mom is aware, has been giving him meds, has had him seen by a dr and is waiting on insurance approval to go further with allergy testing and maybe shots. The teacher knows all this! So I call mom. Mom is practically in tears because she feels like a bad mom. So I wait until the teacher leaves and call her back and basically tell her we know you're not a bad mom the teacher just keeps bringing him so we have to act like we're doing something about it. No,we don't think you're a bad mom. We get it. Sorry the teacher doesn't!
Also, sometimes our calls are because it's something minor but we don't know you so we don't know if you're one of those parents or not.
So yeah, we feel ya!
And we LOVE it when moms/dads say let them go back to class and suck it up!
It's because the teachers are over dramatic and think we can cure it all and the whole "we can't let our precious babies feel one ounce of discomfort ever" mentality that we talked about in another thread.
And we LOVE it when moms/dads say let them go back to class and suck it up!
A kid broke his arm last night and was placed in a soft cast pending his ortho appointment today. Teacher sent him down for me to "check" his cast. Yup it's a cast.
Another kid sent down for "allergies", his eyes are clear and bright, no redness, no swelling, no congestion, no cough, afebrile. He told me he coughed last night. Ok. Great.
Another kid was sent for a stomachache. She had no breakfast and no snack. Is your stomach telling you it's hungry? Yes? I offer her crackers and she says she is allergic to gluten (not on her health record). Well then, guess you're gonna be hungry.
Yesterday I had one who had a sore leg after her dog slept on her leg the night before.
Freshman girl who I have seen no less than 20 times this year for various bumps and bruises that always require ice. And it's always something that happened AT school, which means I have to document it and call home (although I admit I haven't called home on some of her practically non-existent bumps).
So she comes in with another student, who I evaluated, treated and then sat at my desk.
Frequent flyer: "Well I wanted you to look at my finger."
Me: "What happened?"
FF: "I don't know, it hurts when I do this."
Me: "Well, don't do that." (They love it when you say this!)
FF: "But this is the hand I write with!!! Can't you see the bruise?"
Me: Looks at finger from desk- no redness or bruising is visible. "You'll be fine."
FF: "But it really hurts."
Me: "You'll be fine."
FF: Turns with a huff "Well if you see me back here later, you'll know it's because of my finger!!"
Me: "OK- have a nice day!!"
Shocker: she somehow managed to get through the day and never came back to see me.
amoLucia
7,736 Posts
That poster who was requesting quips for T-shirts would prob like this line.
Also about the 'suck it up gene'.