Spin off- what's been your biggest emergency as a school nurse

[kidzcare]

The other thread got me thinking about this. Luckily (hopefully) our emergencies are few and far between but when we have them, they can be doozies! Share them here!

I mentioned on the other thread the first time I had a kid with a broken arm. He came in from PE with an extra bend. Broke both his Radius and ulna running into the wall with an outstretched arm.

I had a staff member slip on ice in the parking lot and he ankle was twisted in an unnatural way. Thank goodness for cell phones or who knows how long she would have been laying in the snow since she had run out on her break to get a coffee.

I have given an epi pen once. A student with severe allergies came in from the bus where another student had been eating candy with peanuts in it (day after Halloween). Student's O2 sat was in the 70s and she was wheezing. The principal had mom on her cell phone and the AP was calling 911 while I administered the epi and got another epi ready in case it was needed before EMS arrived. Scary.

[Nurse_JackieVA, BSN, RN]

*knock on wood* I've only had one true emergency. Only one 911 phone call for an asthmatic with no inhaler - it was my 2nd day on the job and still orienting under my team lead.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

I still remember the first time I had to use an Epi-pen. Peanut allergy. After school on a Friday, student accidentally purchased peanut butter twix thinking it was regular twix and ate two bites before realizing her mistake. Full body edema and wheezing. I had actually walked out the door to my car to leave (it was 4 PM) when the dean of students came running to meet me. Outcome was good.

This year, I had a student experience a new onset absence seizure in the middle of class.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

I have had two decent lacerations needing stitches, a broken wrist and broken teeth. Only 911 call was for self harm. Hoping the Epi-pens stay nice and sealed and I get to throw out my unused AED pads and batteries (proper disposal, of course).

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

I had a MS student last year that collapsed. I ran to meet him, but met one of the gym teachers met me halfway carrying the limp student. We returned to my office quickly and I set to trying to revive him - breathing was normal, heart rate was high but student was out cold. I tried everything- deep sternal rub, pinching nail beds, you name it to revive him. He went to the ER where he was told to get cardiac clearance. It turned out that he had an inhaler (from another country) in his possession (no orders on file) and took lord only knows how much after recess. He was in school the next day. I called him down to discuss - he said he remembered nothing until the medics arrived and wondered why his chest felt sore today - i told him probably me grating my knuckles across it like crazy.

[Farawyn]

High kid trying to climb out my window later stole his mom's keys and flipped his car over.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

Geeze! hope he wasn't hurt too badly and got clean

[OyWithThePoodles, RN]

I've had a student with a broken arm, nice and bendy.

Back when I subbed I had a call to come out to the football field (talk about a run!) a kid was horse-playing and fell off of the pole volt mat, when I arrived he was unresponsive to verbal stimuli, got himself a nice sternal rub, woke right up. Ambulance ride. Concussion.

I had a kid last year with a skull fracture that happened here, but I knew nothing about it because he was never sent to my office for his repeated falling asleep. Mom gets him after school and takes him straight to the ER. 3 days in the ICU. Teachers will send me a kid for their earring falling out but not a kid that can't stay awake.

The biggest and scariest would have to be one that occurred a couple of weeks ago. I was called into a classroom as I was told the teacher wasn't acting right. I walk in and she is sitting in the chair, the IA tells me that she started dragging her leg and then just couldn't communicate. I go over and try to talk to her and she was just deer in headlights. Slurring, word salad. Grips equal, no facial dropping, but still very scary. She got a ride in the ambulance with me in the front seat. A slew of tests later (all the while she still isn't making sense, talking out her head, talking to students while sitting in the ER) and everything was negative. Very odd. And she is in her 30's. She is back and okay.

[Farawyn]

Geeze! hope he wasn't hurt too badly and got clean

He was not hurt at all.

He was clean for a bit, but I'm not hopeful.

[kidzcare]

The biggest and scariest would have to be one that occurred a couple of weeks ago. I was called into a classroom as I was told the teacher wasn't acting right. I walk in and she is sitting in the chair, the IA tells me that she started dragging her leg and then just couldn't communicate. I go over and try to talk to her and she was just deer in headlights. Slurring, word salad. Grips equal, no facial dropping, but still very scary. She got a ride in the ambulance with me in the front seat. A slew of tests later (all the while she still isn't making sense, talking out her head, talking to students while sitting in the ER) and everything was negative. Very odd. And she is in her 30's. She is back and okay.

Do you know if she suffers from migraines? I had a student about a year and a half ago that presented with neuro symptoms (aphasia, confusion, numbness and tingling to extremities) and was originally thought to have had a stroke (he was 11!) but later the neuro said it was migraine instead.

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

He was not hurt at all.

He was clean for a bit, but I'm not hopeful.

Make that half a like.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

Do you know if she suffers from migraines? I had a student about a year and a half ago that presented with neuro symptoms (aphasia, confusion, numbness and tingling to extremities) and was originally thought to have had a stroke (he was 11!) but later the neuro said it was migraine instead.

Oh you beat me too it! I have a coworker that gets migraines a few times a year that make her speech incomprehensible.