I started a my first school nurse job in 9/07 and now I have tendonitis of R elbow, from constant ice bag making. Also my left hand hurts from constant holding of thermometer to take temps.
I know now not to give an ice bag for something that occured yesterday, but I still give ice for kids that were "hit by ball during gym or from recess..so many come in during lunch "I got hit, tripped, punched" is this ok? also I take temps when they say "I have a headache" am i wrong,
please help..I now sometime just feel their forehead....I work in an urban elementary school of 655 students..visits 60-100/day.I cant afford to aquire any more repetitive stress injuries .. HELP!
Acupuncture knocked out my bilateral golfer's and tennis elbows in two sessions.
Why are you making ice bags? I use commercial ones and have the kids return them. Of course, some never make it back. You can also freeze rice in ziploc bags and reuse if you're having to make your own bags. It's cheap and easy.
Since school is an "educational" setting I teach the kids to get their own ice packs for minor bumps and bangs. It takes their mind off their injury plus another "trained" kid usually brings them to my office and is more than willing to help out.
I don't take temps on headaches as a rule unless it's an elementary kid.
Do you just freeze the dry rice? Is it wet rice? Do you add water? Never heard of it! I admit, I like the ziplocs so I don't give them an excuse to come back! I do not give out ice bags if the injury is not evident from a "bump" or it is longer than 24 hours since the incident. My pet peeve is kids coming for an ice bag, not the reason they need it. Those kids definitely get a "health counselling" especially if it's a "bogus" complaint.
I do take temps for headaches (also as a proactive measure so they don't come back later, "can you check my temperature?")
I haven't had your experience with the thermometer but I will start letting them hold it too!
I was the nurse's aid at an elementry school and we always took temps for headaches and luckily we had manufactured ice packs and the thermometers that you run across the forehead.
Things have gotten better thanks to the advice and info that I've gotten from this website, we use manufactured ice bags, check for red marks before giving an ice bag, returned to exercising, will be taking yoga to learn relaxation techniques.....
What do you guys do about parents who lay you out about thier child not getting an ice bag for no appearent injury? I've had parents call and say their child was in your clinic today because they (barely) bumped thier (fill in the blank) on a pole, their friend, a bathroom door, and "you didn't do anything"? Child walked in laughing and playing with their friend...parents don't want to hear about that...child is in "so much pain" now 8 hrs later because I didn't "do anything"...ugh
for those kids who have red marks i give an ice bag, for the others't ...i take a look at it "you don't have a red mark, you are lucky, or i will massage it and just declare that "you are fine". For the kindergardeners who get a bruise, we send a note with the child.
I have gotten into a habit of not only taking temps on everybody who walks in the door - but also getting a blood pressure. I am in an urban middle school of about 1100 - lots of drug abuse, obesity, etc. I had a kid who had a headache because his BP was 170/102!!
The older kids can certainly hold their own thermometers. As fas as ice packs go - my bigger concern is the kids wanting to take them back to class. I allow it, but only if the older students give me some sort of collateral that they will miss and want to come back for. I've lost too many of my reusable ice packs to kids being lazy and not wanting to return it.
I don't think I would trust my elementary kids with a bag of rice. The teacher's would throw a hissy fit if they opened it and got rice all over the place !:nuke:
COLLATERAL!! I never thought of that! I am totally going to do that next year! Like thier planner! ooohh! I am so doing that!
I am also going to make rice bags for next year. I can't tell you how many little girls cry to mommy about thier cramps and really all they need is a little heat...they are going to have to deal with this for the rest of thier lives (lucky us! & I mean that both sarcastically and that we are really lucky to be women!) With washable covers...I wouldn't mind taking the cover home to wash...ask me next year when the rice bags are a hit!
My favorite "pacifier" for the invisible injury needing an ice pack is to give the student a cold paper towel (I keep a supply of wet paper towels in a refrigerator). Paper towels are not as dramatic as ice packs (there goes the fun). They are disposable (no more excuses to leave the class to return the ice pack). I don't have to worry about cleaning them. They are cheap! They provide tangible TLC. They work GREAT!
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joy09
91 Posts
Do you just freeze the dry rice? Is it wet rice? Do you add water? Never heard of it! I admit, I like the ziplocs so I don't give them an excuse to come back! I do not give out ice bags if the injury is not evident from a "bump" or it is longer than 24 hours since the incident. My pet peeve is kids coming for an ice bag, not the reason they need it. Those kids definitely get a "health counselling" especially if it's a "bogus" complaint.
I do take temps for headaches (also as a proactive measure so they don't come back later, "can you check my temperature?")
I haven't had your experience with the thermometer but I will start letting them hold it too!