Taking orders

[Vtachy1]

I am used to working in hospitals and hospice. So when parents give you orders on a diabetic kid, like, give morning snack if blood sugar is such and such. The teachers just take their orders. Is this ok?

I don't really do any healthcare plans, that is the job of the school nurse, I am a nurse paraprofessional.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

It should all be part of the diabetic care plan signed off by the doctor....but often (not always) parents know their kids best and are comfortable making said adjustments. If you are with the child all day, you should be part of the planning team for the care plan.

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

i have formal orders from the same diabetic center (oddly enough) for all my diabetics that outline how many carbs they are to be given if they present with low blood sugar - it's not just a verbal from the parents. Some of my diabetics are allowed a morning snack, particularly if they have a later lunch and a snack isn't built in - but to me that's more of an IHP type decision than a medical order.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

I have formal orders as well and each of my diabetic has a 504 plan that includes morning snacks, etc that have some perimeters based on the formal orders (i.e give equivalent of 20 carbs to student if BG is below 70), but really of more part of the child's IHP in school.

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I have formal orders as well as a 504 plan. But the mom is at school 3 days out of 5 and she does what she wants, which is fine. She just can't say that I should do something if she isn't there unless it is in the physician's orders.

She won't let her son have a mid-morning snack although physician's orders include that. If his blood sugar is low, she gives him 3 or 4 of those yucky glucose tabs (he's in 2nd grade and it is hard to get him to eat those) and I give what the orders say - a 15 gram carb juice box.

[OldDude]

The Diabetes Care Plan ordered by the MD is a good framework for when things go as predicted. I've found that you always run into something weird that requires a decision. That's when a collaborative and cooperative understanding between me and the parents play into immediate problem solving; not involving the MD.

[Farawyn]

What is a nurse paraprofessional?

Yes, I can Google it, but I'm asking yawl.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

They work one on one with a medically needy student, supporting them academically as well as medically. Unfortunately, in some districts they use this title to pay them less than a nurse.