Testing Madness

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I seriously hate testing days. They are usually quiet in my office, so should be happy, right? Nope. Everyone is on edge and every tiny little thing becomes a major catastrophe. Case in point...had a student whose mother notified the teacher that she was not at school because mom found lice. No problem, told the parent to treat her and send her to my office in the morning to check. I checked her out this morning, and she is fine to return to class. A few hours into the testing, the principal brings her to me because she is scratching her head non-stop. I explain to her that she has been treated for lice (which the principal did not know), and I cleared her. I checked her again. Still fine.

Principal brings her back to me a little while ago because she cannot stop scratching, can she go home? She was finished testing. I told her medically, she does not need to go. Principal insists and I tell her she's the boss, it's her call. So I call the parents and send the kid home. For itching.

My other vent about testing is bathroom breaks. It never fails that I will have one, if not several students soil themselves on testing day because they are refused bathroom breaks. These are 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders who do not have medical reasons or a history of soiling. These are KIDS, why are we expecting them to conform to a strict schedule for toileting? No, let's be rigid instead and make them pee on themselves so that then they are upset, humiliated in front of their classmates, and crying. THAT makes for a great testing environment, right?

OK, just had to vent that one out. I feel better :)

[BunnyBunnyBSNRN, ASN, BSN]

I feel your pain.

:hug:

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Thanks, Chiefswife! A little lunch and perspective, and I'm feeling better. I've decided that someone else's "emergency" does not have to be mine! Besides, testing time just means we are that much closer to summer, right?

[katynurs22]

I agree, in my case, there's a lot of test anxiety and they are brought in for nausea, stomachache, and headaches. I had one that who complained of stomachache during the test, I did my assessment-everything WNL and allowed rest, still not feeling the same but he insisted that he wanted to get back to testing. I escorted him back to test area and teacher asked me to tell assistant principal that he was back in class. So i went and told her and she gets upset and said "he didn't look good if he's in pain he needs to go home" I told her everything is normal, no fever, no diarrhea, I think he's got test anxiety. So I suggested that we wait 15 minutes to see if he does better and see if counselor will talk to student. The counselor went to talk to student during his test break and he was 100% better.

But sometimes this makes me think "what am I here for?" if someone else is going to make decisions for me and why did the teatcher tell the assistant principal before letting me see him first?

[Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN]

Oh, can't wait - we do the testing starting next week. Although I'm glad they moved it from the beginning of April to the beginning of May. When they completed the testing by the end of April, the kids ended up with a mind set of "the test is over so school is over" and we usually don't get out of school until June 20 something. Made for a pretty wild last two months of school.

[mc3, ASN, RN]

Ah yes. We just finished ours, and I can relate! In my case, the guidance counselor and teacher brought up a student before testing started first thing in the morning. He'd told the teacher he didn't feel good. Teacher and guidance counselor wanted me to check the kid, and basically say he was sick and needed to go home. They didn't want him to start the test, and vomit in the middle of the class. It messes up their test protocol. OK. I get that. I question the kid after taking his temp (which was normal). Ask the kid a few questions that teacher and guidance counselor neglected to ask. Turns out he'd been out late the night before and was tired, and had eaten too much popcorn and junk food at the local county fair (good idea, Mom and Dad ). So, he doesn't feel good today. Yes, he had a good breakfast. Evidently, Mom and Dad felt he was well enough this morning, or they wouldn't have sent him to school. I conclude he's good enough to stay. Don't have a medical reason to send him home. Well, guidance counselor (who's in charge of the testing) has a FIT!!!! HE CAN'T STAY HERE she shouts, HE HAS TO GO HOME. OK, I say, it you want to send him home, that's your decision, but medically there's no reason I can send him home. And I can't have him sit in the clinic all day, 'cause there's really sick kids that come up, and I don't want him to catch anything. Well, by now you'd think I'd committed the worse sin in school history. Guidance counselor very angry at me now Oh well. Principal did intervene, and child was sent home. At least it wasn't under my recommendation. Oh, and the principle apologized the next day for the counselor's behavior And the guidance counselor won't say hi to me anymore....

Sigh. Sometimes it's not easy being us...

mc3

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

state testing is coming up next week. Don't know about your rules, but in my states, if a child leaves for any reason outside of the built in breaks they are out of testing for the rest of the day. So the kid that comes in with a bloody nose or the kids that didn't eat breakfast and feels queasy or the kid that needs a danged bandaid will come to the office and be stuck.

So check on me next week when i have a room full of kids that have no reason to be in by me for hours. I'll be sure to be at my wits end

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

So follow up on the itchy head story. The mom kept her home today (and testing is still going on). I want to scream "I told you so!", but I'm keeping quiet. Apparently when admin called to talk to the mother, she said the child is still scratching like crazy and is too uncomfortable to come to school. Admin tried to talk the mother in to bringing her to take the test, but as of now we don't know if she will or not.

The real irony is that this child did not start itching until AFTER her mother found the lice and treated her for them. This is all a game to her, and a great excuse to get out of testing!

Looks like it's going to be another interesting day over here!

[katynurs22]

This reminds me, on another test day, there was a student who had suspected pink eye (without eye discharge) and he was brought to the clinic about halfway thru his test. The principal was notified also and was asking what would happen if he stayed until he finished- he wanted him to stay. I told him that for pink eye they are excluded because it is contagious and he needs to be seen by a doctor. Since he would be sitting most of the time and not interacting, he could continue testing, but during lunch he would have to return to clinic to eat. Those were my recommendations and also a lot of handwashing and avoid touching the eye. The principals seemed satisfied that he was able to return because he added "he's a bright student". But I felt uncomfortable with him being able to return to class. I did call the mother however to let her know that he had pink eye and I recommended her to take him to a clinic that has late hours.

[SchoolNurseBSN]

My district freaks if a kid is excluded on test day. Right after attendance is taken, they start calling kids who are absent. I have had kids with 103.0 fever or chicken pox that they wanted to come in for testing.

[katynurs22]

My district freaks if a kid is excluded on test day. Right after attendance is taken, they start calling kids who are absent. I have had kids with 103.0 fever or chicken pox that they wanted to come in for testing.

That's crazy. It doesn't make sense, if they aren't feeling their best, their scores could reflect that.

[SchoolNurseBSN]

Good one for you! Just had a kid finish his test a few minutes ago. Turns out, he has had a rash on his neck since Sunday but he just now got sent to me because they were prepping on Monday and started testing yesterday.

It wasn't itching or hurting. Looks like (and from the history of egg hunting on Saturday) poison oak or some other sort of allergic contact dermatitis. Good thing, if it was contagious..............the entire school would have been exposed these last 3 days.

With only a little over an hour of school left for today, I sent him right back.