I have a dillemma about ice. I am well aware that ice chould only be used for fresh, acute injuries and not handed out for every little ache or pain, however, it has become a battle of the4 wills in my school that I have lost. I am in a high school, and the students use the clinic for ev ery excuse to get out of class. New Admin is not supportive of my prior practices to keep students out fo the clinic and in class. When they come for ice, I pretty much have to just hand it out like candy, no matter what the issue, or how old the issue is. If I explain that ice is no longer indicated for the "injury" the kids can text, or call their parents, some of which will call, screaming and yelling about just give them the ice, and if we persist, they call admin, and we get yelled at by admin. So, in a nutshell, we are now just handing ice out to anyone that simply asks for it no matter what. It keeps the parents, and the administrators from yelling and screaming about ice. Suggestions????
I agree overall, that this isn't a battle I generally choose to fight-so I feel many of my ice packs are just 'TLC ice packs'. I do find with playground/classroom injuries that seem super minor though, that if I have them go back to class (without ice) and 'see me in 10 minutes' or next class break or something if still having pain, at least 50% of the time the student does not return, as they've probably completely forgotten they were even injured in the first place! That avoids any children complaining they didn't get any ice or treatment for an injury, and avoids me giving unneeded ice.
Just this AM, a 4th grader comes down for an ice pack for her band-aided paper cut. I promptly explained that I know it stings, but ice ain't going to do anything and I'm no longer giving out ice packs for things I don't deem necessary. Knowing this girl's social standing, I'll be seeing less of her class for ice from here on out:happy:
i would also deem that one non ice worthy. Like the kids who come in looking for bandaids for the non-existant scrapes "because it hurts". It may hurt, but all bandaids do is absorb blood, they don't take away pain. (emotional maybe... we'll have to send it over to the institute for further research and will consider changing stance after a full report is issued)
When I came to my K-5 school last Feb, ice packs were freely handed out. It was like the students were going back to the classroom with a trophy for all to see. Inevitably I would then get another 2 or 3 from the same classroom requesting an ice pack for invisible injuries. This school year I started a new policy- with support from my head nurse and admin.- Ice packs stay in the Health Office! If the injury is bad enough to warrant an ice pack I want to monitor the injury for a period of time. If they want to sit in the office with me- great. Usually what happens is they sit for 30sec and declare- "Never mind, Im fine." Now that the students and FF know my policy I see a huge decrease in the number of kids coming down requesting ice packs. Every once in a while I will send a student back to class with a homemade ice pack (1 ice cube in baggie). This is unusual. It has been the best change and the teachers are now catching on and won't send kids to Health Office for ice as often.
Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
all bandaids do is absorb blood, they don't take away pain. (emotional maybe... we'll have to send it over to the institute for further research and will consider changing stance after a full report is issued)
Interesting the number of posters who seem willing to let parents yell at you.What can be done to rein them in so they treat you courteously, the way they want you to treat them?
Rumor has it our principal used to call parents into his office if they yelled at staff members. He'd explain how to properly treat them & suggest that this isn't the school for them if they have so many problems (we're a private school). It got rid of a lot of mean parents, but once the school was bought out by a larger parent company that wasn't allowed anymore. It's all about the numbers now.
I have a dillemma about ice. I am well aware that ice chould only be used for fresh, acute injuries and not handed out for every little ache or pain, however, it has become a battle of the4 wills in my school that I have lost. I am in a high school, and the students use the clinic for ev ery excuse to get out of class. New Admin is not supportive of my prior practices to keep students out fo the clinic and in class. When they come for ice, I pretty much have to just hand it out like candy, no matter what the issue, or how old the issue is. If I explain that ice is no longer indicated for the "injury" the kids can text, or call their parents, some of which will call, screaming and yelling about just give them the ice, and if we persist, they call admin, and we get yelled at by admin. So, in a nutshell, we are now just handing ice out to anyone that simply asks for it no matter what. It keeps the parents, and the administrators from yelling and screaming about ice. Suggestions????
I suggest you tell the Principal that the teachers must hand out A's if asked, despite the teacher's professional opinion otherwise. A school administrator can not know the individual intricacies of each employee and a failure to respect that professional's expertise shows a serious lack of leadership that their superiors may be very interested in.
Maybe talking to a trainer/coach may help cut down on some of these? The trainers/coaches at the two middle schools I've worked in did not want students leaving class to get ice from the nurse. So, I've taken to asking how something happened, and if they are an athlete I tell them they need to talk to their coach the next time they see them and that I only treat emergency athletic injuries. That cuts down a lot on the "I'm sore from the game last night" or the "I got hurt in practice but didn't tell my coach because I wanted to keep playing" sort of stuff.
Then for non swelling injuries of other students, I make them sit in the clinic for a few minutes with ice if they are super insistant on getting some. Most kids though have dealt with the "you don't need ice" talk. And fortunately, my admin and most of my teachers back me up.
Another take, the first thing I say to injured students when they walk through the door is "would you stop playing if you were home to deal with this?". Half of them turn around.
AdobeRN
1,294 Posts
I order those tiny little 3x3 baggies - work perfectly for ice packs.