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.

[Amethya]

What happened to me was the most extreme one I ever had. But on my first day of school, I had one student fall off the same stairs, going down and broke her ankle. After that we made a good bond and now she's my favorite student. xD

[tamarae1]

One broken hand in PE - student fell straight down on it, sent to doctor with mom. One kinder almost passed out - sent to ER with mom, dehydration. One sleeping student very difficult to wake up - dx: sleeps like a log, late night video games. Adult walked into a door opening, concussion symptoms, he went to urgent care with his boss. Several asthmatics without medication I've had to call home for to send home for their breathing treatments because parents won't send me medication. My T1D is still walky talky at 40, and vomits at 450 thank goodness. Knock on wood, that's as bad as it has been so far.

[SaltineQueen]

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

[SaltineQueen]

I've called 911 two times. Once for a young male staff member with chest pain, ended up fine. This year, first few days of school, I was told they needed me in a Kindergarten classroom - not told anything about the situation - and get there to find a girl on the ground, eyes open but unresponsive to name & sternal rub. She snapped out of it shortly after I decided to call 911, but was pretty slow coming back to. Apparently, she's had some traumatic past & this is her "coping mechanism" according to her parents. Would have been nice to know.

[OyWithThePoodles, RN]

Would have been nice to know.

That's crazy that the parents wouldn't think it was necessary to tell you. But sadly, not surprised.

[schoolnurse61]

A few years ago i had a 5th grade boy who attempted to jump down an entire flight of stairs. Landed at the

bottom and got a compound fracture of his humerus. He kept trying to pick it up to show me that he could move it and it looked like

a piece of cooked spaghetti as it wiggled in ways it shouldn't have!

Usually have an average of 1 fracture a year but this was one of the worst!

Fingers crossed none so far this school year !

[grammy1]

My scariest was an asthma attack gone bad VERY quickly. Called 911 since his inhaler and neb did nothing. He was back 2 days later and remembered nothing of the episode!

It seems that paramedics never believe us when we witness a child having their first seizure. There was no doubt in my mind of what I was witnessing, yet no one believed me...paramedics, doctor, parents, till it happened at home and the parents videoed it while waiting for rescue to get there.

Compound fx of radius and ulna was pretty bad, poor kid was in total shock.

Fx skull when a kid wasn't looking where he was going and ran into a pole while trying to catch a football.

I've given an epi-pen once, but nothing was as scary as that asthma attack.

[momto5RN]

Besides my last post about the 8th grader with suicidal ideation, I have had a few scares.

There have been a few asthma attacks last year. Minor but anything regarding respiratory makes me nervous.

The biggest one last year was a 7th grader that passed out in math class. I was walking a student to the office, sending him home after his inhaler and neb treatment did not help his cough and his lungs sounded terrible. I wanted to talk with his mom but as soon as I opened the door, the secretary says run upstairs a student passed out. I had no time to think and just got up there as fast as I could. I had just found out I was pregnant too and was so out of breath running!

I go in the class and the teacher is upfront teaching as if nothing happened! The student was on the ground, head in his hands. I asked him what happened. Speech slurring, disoriented. I thought maybe a seizure. I asked his teacher what was going on, any convulsions. She did not answer me at all and went back to teaching. I think she was scared. She was fresh out of college and she no longer works here

Turns out it was vasovagal syncope after having been checked by a neurologist and cardiologist. He is in 8th this year and so far no episodes. He did feel dizzy after mass (Catholic school) but some juice helped and his blood pressure was good.

[cooties_are_real]

One year we called 911 (27) times. Yes, 27. We has 4-5 active seizure students. We could not get seizure protocol for any of them so we would call after 5 min of activity or more than 1. Most of the time we would have to wait for parents to get here because they were telling us not to transport. One day we had a fire alarm (not a drill) which caused 2 of them to seize afterwards. Both of them had several seizures one right after the other, so I called 911. While both were in my office, I had a "asthma attack" and panic attack (complete with biting her nail so hard they were starting to bleed) sitting outside my office. The asthma attack was not showing any external s/s and after about 5 min of waiting, she said she would be fine and went to class. While the EMTs were with the 2 seizure kids, I stepped outside to talk to the "panic attack" when a teacher who knew the student came by and said "I'll handle this." (Thank God!) That was a crazy year. Not all were for the seizures, 2-3 were for our cheerleader who was the top of the pyramid and was dropped (never was badly hurt).

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

Oh where do I begin??? Been doing this gig >20 years!!

Epi administration for known and unknown anaphylaxis

? MI for a teacher- turn out to be gastric reflux

First time seizure activity

Fx skull, hip, arm, leg etc

Head injury with LOC and massive bleed

OD

Psych emergency

I'm sure there are more...

[Nurse_JackieVA, BSN, RN]

Damnit, should have knocked a little harder - s/p fight came into clinic c/o pain after getting punched in the face/head. Neuro intact except for the fact that student kept getting SLEEPY. The student would answer a question then close eyes/lay head down. Almost called 911 but Mom took to ED instead. If Mom wasn't there 911 for sure.

Mild concussion according to the ED.

I work in an elementary school and these were not my older kids. What in the world is going on?

[kidzcare]

Compound fx of radius and ulna was pretty bad, poor kid was in total shock.

In my experience, every kid I've had with a fracture is in shock. True for my daughter too when she broke her arm last spring. If you guys remember the pic I posted, it was a closed fracture but (internally) her humerous was pointing at her ribs. She was completely calm while I was assessing her (can't move, extra bend to arm) and calling 911. Not a tear, not a scream (couple moans when I was asking her to try to move it.

Another scary situation I had was a staff member with BP 200s/110. Headache. Hx of cardiac issues and cancer treatment. Recent change in cancer meds. Had the principal drive her to the hospital (