super annoyed

[vikivail26]

Does anyone have an autistic unit at your school. I work for an elementary school. We have a small class of autistic students. The staff in the class bring me kids constantly because they do not fell good and want me to call home and have someone pick them up. The majority of the time the student has no fever, no vomiting, no runny nose, and no cough. They seem fine to me in the clinic, but once they return to class the student suddenly is crying, coughing, sneezing, or what ever. The teachers in there get annoyed because I don't feel comfortable making parents come get there kids because they are crying. Does anyone have to deal with this. My opinion is they just don't want germs in the class.. Should i treat these kids like I do the rest of the students.

[gkvegan, MSN]

I am at a special needs school and we have over 100 students with autism. Many of them are nonverbal. We treat them as you would treat a typically developed student in terms of fevers. But when it comes to most other things, we don't have hard and fast rules. Most things are on a case by case basis based on deviations from the students baseline. For example if there is a student that make themselves vomit, we wouldn't send them home for vomiting unless it was more then usual. Or if a student has certain stimming behaviors and stops doing them we know something is probably going on. If I don't know the student that well I depend on classroom staff's observations. It is a different set of skills. My advice is to learn the student's baselines really well.

[JerseyTomatoMDCrab, BSN]

One of the schools where I interviewed for a SN position had a program for students with autism. During my interview, the principal used the term "dumping ground" to describe the way aides treated the nursing office as far as autistic students. She called it "a real problem" and said "something needs to be done about it" but didn't really elaborate.

Needless to say, I accepted an offer elsewhere. That didn't seem like a good environment for a brand new school nurse.

Your story sounds very similar to mine though. I can't imagine how hard that must be. Far was right (as always) in saying that communication is so important. Teachers, aides and the principal need to be aware of the correct guidelines for sending a student down to your office. People will walk all over the nurse if it makes their day easier. I think a meeting with admin and teachers is in order. Good luck.

[vikivail26]

Thanks for the support. I spoke with the teacher and if she feels that they need to go home and I do not agree then she is will call the parents. Otherwise, I will call the parents to let them what is going on and leave it up to them.