Taking student to bathroom

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

My principal yesterday told me that they want me to start taking a 1st grade autistic student to the bathroom every hour on the hour. How the heck am I suppose to do that, run nurse office, do contact tracing which is becoming more of a regular thing, do secretary duties when she is not there/on break.

Last year the student was in a classroom that had a bathroom so she was able to go when ever she needs to go. Now, since she is non-verbal it has become an issue, and they really don't want her to go to the bathroom alone because it's a safety issue. I'm in a montessori school within a public school district. There is no special ED classrooms, although special ED services are offered. 

Has anyone else ever taken a student to the bathroom every hour on the hour. I do not have a Dr order for this. The parents to my knowledge hasn't even requested I do this. Sometimes I feel my Principal makes unreasonable requests, she is very pushy/demanding. Great, passionate Principal, but very pushy/demanding. 

Today was SUPER busy, and my principal knew this, but was annoyed at me when she asked had I had a chance to go get________________ to use the bathroom. I told her to be honest it has been super busy it slipped my mind, and even if it hadn't I have been too busy. She got super annoyed, and said, well you need to set an alarm. Like what part of it has been super busy did she not understand. Like my office is literally within feet of her office. She can see how busy it was, plus the secretary wasn't there.

Anyway, it finally calmed down a little bit just long enough(barely) for me to go try to get student to go to the bathroom. 1) She really don't like me. 2) I tried to get her to come with me, and she kept batting her hands at me. How am I suppose to even get her to come with me if she will not come with me? 3) She don't like my office, because I am pretty sure it reminds her too much of a Dr's office which her Mother told me once before she don't like and my office is where I'm suppose to bring her in to use the bathroom.

 

[Haijun]

A few things come to mind:

- You have no Dr orders or even parental request for hourly restroom visits.  If parents objected & considered it invasive or discriminatory, it more than likely would be your job in question, not the principal's.

- Bring up the health safety aspect to your principal.  Is it wise to have any student in the same clinic where there are constantly students with covid symptoms and other infectious diseases?

- Does this student have an iep or 504?  What do they say?  Could this student or classroom qualify for an aide who could assist with such things?

- Talk with your school health boss about this.  Requests like this have very likely occurred before & your district school health likely has a policy or planned response to this request.

Good luck!

[sleepwalker, MSN, NP]

Does the classroom have a Para? If not..why?

What does the childs IEP or 504 say? If they don't have one...why not?

This is not your responsibility. The assignment sounds arbitrary and capricious.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

1 hour ago, sleepwalker said:

Does the classroom have a Para? If not..why?

What does the childs IEP or 504 say? If they don't have one...why not?

This is not your responsibility. The assignment sounds arbitrary and capricious.

This. I work at a public charter and this student would have a para assigned to them and they would take them to the bathroom if needed. (It may not be a 1:1 para, could be a 1:2 para, but there would be a para.)

[AdobeRN]

yes to all of the above^^^^^

Does the student need assistance in the bathroom? or is just because they are nonverbal the staff feels they need assistance?  

I do have one nonverbal student on the spectrum in a regular gen ED class right now.  While he is nonverbal he understands when the teacher asks about using the restroom and is capable of going by himself. He goes when the classroom has bathroom breaks without any issue.  

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

On 8/28/2021 at 7:36 AM, Haijun said:

A few things come to mind:

- You have no Dr orders or even parental request for hourly restroom visits.  If parents objected & considered it invasive or discriminatory, it more than likely would be your job in question, not the principal's.

- Bring up the health safety aspect to your principal.  Is it wise to have any student in the same clinic where there are constantly students with covid symptoms and other infectious diseases?

- Does this student have an iep or 504?  What do they say?  Could this student or classroom qualify for an aide who could assist with such things?

- Talk with your school health boss about this.  Requests like this have very likely occurred before & your district school health likely has a policy or planned response to this request.

Good luck!

Thank you. I’m thinking she should have an IEP/504, but I didn’t see one. I have never been invited to any of her meetings. We have a brand new counselor that is trying to figure everything out. I didn’t get a chance today to figure it out. It was incredibly too busy with contact tracing, sick kids, injuries, I had to do Secretary job today, deal with a kid who was sent to office for behavioral issues, and icing on the cake I also had to call for an ambulance today. School nurse life right. 

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

7 hours ago, sleepwalker said:

Does the classroom have a Para? If not..why?

What does the childs IEP or 504 say? If they don't have one...why not?

This is not your responsibility. The assignment sounds arbitrary and capricious.

There is a Teacher and Teacher Assistant. No Para. Why? This apparently was not a problem last year because in PreK/K classrooms all the classes have a bathroom.Today was only Day 6 of school. I don’t think they are going to hire one now because this student will soon be transferring to a school that will be a better match. 

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

5 hours ago, AdobeRN said:

yes to all of the above^^^^^

Does the student need assistance in the bathroom? or is just because they are nonverbal the staff feels they need assistance?  

I do have one nonverbal student on the spectrum in a regular gen ED class right now.  While he is nonverbal he understands when the teacher asks about using the restroom and is capable of going by himself. He goes when the classroom has bathroom breaks without any issue.  

She does need someone to be close by outside the bathroom. She will wander off if she is alone, and that becomes a definite safety issue. She is non verbal, but I feel there has to be a way to communicate with her about going to the bathroom. 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

With my elderly dementia patients needing bathroom/ shower time reminders, I've made a sign that their aide would show them worked 75% time.  Here's one for a  school girl.

 

       Go to Bathroom

 

 

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

I don't see why the TA isn't tasked with this. 

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

9 hours ago, lifelearningrn said:

I don't see why the TA isn't tasked with this. 

That is exactly what I have wondered. 

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

On 8/31/2021 at 7:44 PM, peaceful2100 said:

time bomb

 

On 8/31/2021 at 7:44 PM, peaceful2100 said:

You need some time off.  Seriously.  Maybe a different job.