Stop, putting this on me...

[Bevp]

What do you do?

Every time a student (K-5, 485 students) has a potty accident or falls in the mud the teachers and the front end staff sends the child to me. I do not have a supply of clean underwear for the children and therefore I feel this is NOT a nursing issue. I have continued to tell the teachers and the front end staff to look up the phone number & call their parents for fresh underclothes and clothing, but they continue to come to my office and I have to do everything. I can be in my office giving out medications or tending to a medical situation, when the student comes in and states the, "the lady upfront told me to come to you so you can clean me up or call my mom". Really!

[OldDude]

I don't know what your employment agreement is but my contract has a nasty little statement that I must agree to to continue my employment; "perform other duties as assigned." Cleaning dog poop off of shoes, unsticking zippers, and helping the custodial staff set up for an assembly also falls into that category...just to name a few

[Eleven011]

Yes, it gets frustrating at times, but if I refused to do every non-nursing thing that was sent to me, I would probably talk myself right out of a job. It doesn't take a nurse to help with a child who's had an accident, but I do have extra clothes, a sink, towels, wipes and a private bathroom. All of which the front end staff don't have.

[Bevp]

Ok, I guess I over reacted..but this particular day we had 10+ students with accidents and I felt like they could have at least made 1 call to the parents for clean clothing. I do have that nasty little paragraph in my contract and I do a lot of other things (after school chess coach, yearbook staff, school photographer, social club for staff, etc..just to name a few).

It was best I vented here and not in my office.

Thank you OldDude for reeling me in, when I "thought" I was drowning. It's a new day and new attitude. :-)

[Eleven011]

10+ accidents?? Holy dirty clothes! That would make anyone need to vent!!

[kidzcare]

Ok, I guess I over reacted..but this particular day we had 10+ students with accidents and I felt like they could have at least made 1 call to the parents for clean clothing. I do have that nasty little paragraph in my contract and I do a lot of other things (after school chess coach, yearbook staff, school photographer, social club for staff, etc..just to name a few).

It was best I vented here and not in my office.

Thank you OldDude for reeling me in, when I "thought" I was drowning. It's a new day and new attitude. :-)

I think your reaction was proportionate. Your contract is not the only one that says "Other duties as assigned"

[SchoolNurseTXstyle]

I think your reaction was proportionate. Your contract is not the only one that says "Other duties as assigned"

And there it is!!! Why does the "other duties" only apply to nurses and not other staff????

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

Gosh I feel your pain. I will say that the office staff are good about calling parents when they see I am busy. I'm low on spare clothes right now, and they know it so they'll call. The bathroom accidents are out of control, in general, imho. What happened to the days when kids were required to be potty trained?? I wish I could say it's only the ity bity kiddos but I get them from ALL grades (PK-5 (though 4th and 5th graders are rare). I think I'm mostly frustrated when the kid says, "I asked but my teacher said no" and when the teachers let the kids play in the freaking mud! Really??

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Maybe when you make the calls home you can say,

"If you'd rather not be bothered with these calls again, please donate a new package of underwear and a pair of sweatpants to be used for future incidents."

[CocoaDreamer]

Maybe when you make the calls home you can say,

"If you'd rather not be bothered with these calls again, please donate a new package of underwear and a pair of sweatpants to be used for future incidents."

.

I remember when I was in pre-k, we had a bag in your cubby area with a spare outfit (in case of an accident I guess).

OP, can you bring this up in a meeting or have a discussion with the principal? Let them know that these incidents sometimes get in the way of performing the duties that only you are qualified to handle. And bring up that paragraph, mentioning that the staff and faculty probably have it as well.

[BeckyESRN]

I saw 5 kids yesterday at the same time with the same complaint "My teacher said you need to give me new pants" Why new pants you ask?, well because their knees were muddy:sarcastic: Just the knees, 2 circles of mud are not going to kill you kiddo, back to class please!

And I just now I had 2 5th grade boys come down because they forgot to wear black dress pants, dress shoes, and white button down shirts. They were annoyed that I didn't have the JCP boys department in my little closet.

[Amethya]

I had this situation in the beginning of the year. I got so sick of it I went to the admin and kept bothering them until they listened to me and did what I asked, which is the Kinder and 1st, it is mandatory to have extra clothes in their backpacks. I have had less accidents but I still get some, and all I do is call parents and tell them if this is a normal occurrence to put clothes in their backpacks so I can just send them to change instead of waiting for 2 hours for them in wet clothes. Some teachers get mad at me for keeping them long, but it's like, sorry but I'm seriously low on underwear or this size pants, I can't do anything about it.