Staff Hysteria

[Ashizzle]

I'm a school nurse and I'm going crazy! I feel as if some kind of mass hysteria has settled over this school, and it's not the kids. It's the staff! I'd like to hear some thoughts about one of my current situations.

One staff member (we'll call her Becky), was diagnosed with a seizure disorder and does not have it under control at all. My issue is, school has only been in session for a few months and during that time, I've responded to Becky's office roughly ten times. Most of the time, Becky describes an aura and nothing happens. Sometimes she asks me to check her vital signs. What is that going to do?

Generally when Becky has these episodes she'll report to me that she neglected to eat breakfast and lunch. She basically lives off of energy drinks and pop. It eventually came out that she is taking all of her meds PRN, even her long-term medications that take weeks to a month to take effect/ reach therapeutic levels. She ONLY takes her medication when she feels like she's going to have a seizure. I very politely explained to her that the medications needed time to take effect and that wasn't going to work, then it happened: she had a full blown seizure at school. ...then it happened again, and again.

I definitely don't want to be insensitive. I care about all of our staff and students; I want her to be safe. In this instance, I don't feel like she's holding up her part of the bargain. The district is very flexible and supportive, which I think is wonderful, but at what point shouldn't this person take some accountability? This is a grown adult being noncompliant in a situation that has serious consequences. Students are constantly on edge, and I'm constantly having to leave my office to run to the aid of this teacher. I'm glad to help, but I can't help but feel like these situations would be completely avoidable if she would just eat breakfast and take her medicine like the MD ordered.

[mudd68]

OP, if you hit the "quote" button instead of the "reply" button, it will copy the text of the person you are responding to - it makes it a little easier to follow the conversation. Just trying to give a helpful hint!

Secondly, are you calling 911 every time she has a seizure? I don't know if it would help or not, since she might just enjoy the fuss...but maybe she would get tired of the medical bills. And more people would be telling her to take her darn meds. I'm not a school nurse (I just like it here), so my suggestion might not apply. What a frustrating situation!

THIS! I work teletriage in an office setting with a large group of non clinical staff that take non symptom based calls, schedule appointments, print reminder letters and so forth. Now and then - a staff member becomes "too ill to work" and they always want to run to one of us nurses to "triage" them. Administration has said our staff nurses cannot be held responsible for ill staff. We don't have the resources of a clinic/ED/urgent care! We work in an office setting! It's a huge liability issue. We are now told that if a staff member is too ill to work and or drive home - they need to arrange to be picked up or we call 911. A couple have been caught off guard with complaints of "chest pain" "asthma attack" "feeling dizzy" thinking they would be given the pass to just go home for the day. NOPE - 911 IS called - we can't let someone report those type of symptoms and just look at them (no assessment tools in the office) as an RN and determine if it's something serious or not. Maybe check with someone in your "legal" department regarding this issue?

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

Are you in a union (and have a contract)? Being "required" to provide services to a co-worker on a regular basis might be grievable...

[BeckyESRN]

Any updates OP?

[kidzcare]

I had an employee like this once who had migraines and a list of other diagnosis and would come shuffling into school most days with sun glasses on and always come straight to my office and expect me to care for her medical needs. She had injectable meds that she at times could not even give to herself so i had to develop a policy related to administering employee medications during the day which required a doctor signature.

I'm glad you worked out a plan! I don't think I'd be covered to give injections to an employee without orders! A couple years ago I had a pregnant teacher who needed an injection once a week and her husband was taught how but squeamish. She asked if I would do it and I told her that I could do it as a friend (who happens to know how to do it), in the health office, after school hours.

[HCPSRMA]

That is complete garbage. You were hired to care for the students, not the staff. I am in a similar situation, working in corrections. We care for the inmates, but provide only emergency care and occasionally education for the staff. We are not legally responsible for what happens to staff medically.

Our contracts state that we are also there to care for staff as well as students. I can't tell you how much Ibuprofen I give out daily... #ISTHISWALMART?

[Amethya]

Our contracts state that we are also there to care for staff as well as students. I can't tell you how much Ibuprofen I give out daily... #ISTHISWALMART?

Thankfully my admin told me to tell the teachers if they need meds, to go to the walgreens across our school.