This is a weird question I guess

Published

I'm a nurse at a large high school (approx 1400 kids grades 9-12). Anyway I've found that a lot of kids come in for normal aches and pains of life; things that you learn to live with like canker sores, a dry throat from dry air in the winter, a stiff neck from sleeping weird, and they come in and are slightly freaking out about it. I know that's the nature of school nursing lol. But how do you handle them? Baby them, or basically tell them welcome to life? Since these kids are older I tend to be tougher. How do you get them to realize that these little things are going to happen until the day they die lol

great responses! We tend to be tough down here, especially since it's high school. But some students and parents are shocked that we don't baby their snowflake.

Ex) Last week we had a 17 yo student come in saying he has been playing basketball at home the night before and his upper thigh was hurting now. Stated that mom was aware when we asked. He was walking fine, gave him ice, sent him back to class. Student came back a 2nd time while I was at lunch, my health aide basically did the same thing for him. Mom called a little while later and was screaming her head off at the aide - why wasn't she called, etc. (because it was not a serious injury and YOU ALREADY KNEW ABOUT IT!) That she had picked him up from school and took him to the dr and he had a pulled hamstring!!! her baby has a pulled hamstring!! She asked (demanded for) us to call her every time he comes into the office.

So, student comes in today with a doctor note for his leg, taking him out of gym. My health aide calls mom as per her request to let him know he had been in. She starts SCREAMING that this is assinine, we are being condescending, we are *******s, etc. She was so loud I could hear her yelling from the other room. My aide hung up the phone, and called some admins to let them know.

Lol so, a few minutes later, our athletic director (who is our "boss") calls us saying mom had called him to complain about us. She now wanted to be called when he got injured (again, he was NEVER injured at school, but at home, and she knew about it!) but...then also stated she wanted to be called whenever he came in at the end of the phone call. Which we did, and also is a contradiction! What the?? Our athletic director, and everyone else in administration, knows shes nuts. Why are some parents so insane!?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

About cramps - i try to tell them to please get doctor notes if they really are severe and have dr orders and meds brought in so that we can give them something. I know cramps can be awful, I'm sympathetic, especially if it's a girl who I know isn't a frequent flier/faker. But having that "proof" on file with a real diagnosis helps so much. Especially since NY state is cracking down so hard on attendance issues this year, but that's a while 'nother post.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
And you don't really know how bad a girl's cramps really are.

THIS...and add a history of chronic constipation...

One school nurse tried to do the "off gloves approach"...until I had a come to Jesus moment with her...let's say she knew when I was coming in, take my :poop: take my extra strength Tylenol, and a quick nap for 30 mins, and back to class.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.
About cramps - i try to tell them to please get doctor notes if they really are severe and have dr orders and meds brought in so that we can give them something. I know cramps can be awful, I'm sympathetic, especially if it's a girl who I know isn't a frequent flier/faker. But having that "proof" on file with a real diagnosis helps so much. Especially since NY state is cracking down so hard on attendance issues this year, but that's a while 'nother post.

oh, i agree with this- i know that cramps can be very bad - and if it's chronic then there needs to be a medical eval, documentation from that medical eval, perhaps an order for medication in the office or some sort of treatment plan. I'll gladly give you your midol or do whatever needs to be done once the plan is in place and it's documented. But don't get flippant with me the very first time you come in and I ask to have more info. I am not a cruel person, i'm just not a coddler.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in SICU/CVICU.
great responses! We tend to be tough down here especially since it's high school. But some students and parents are shocked that we don't baby their snowflake. Ex) Last week we had a 17 yo student come in saying he has been playing basketball at home the night before and his upper thigh was hurting now. Stated that mom was aware when we asked. He was walking fine, gave him ice, sent him back to class. Student came back a 2nd time while I was at lunch, my health aide basically did the same thing for him. Mom called a little while later and was screaming her head off at the aide - why wasn't she called, etc. (because it was not a serious injury and YOU ALREADY KNEW ABOUT IT!) That she had picked him up from school and took him to the dr and he had a pulled hamstring!!! her baby has a pulled hamstring!! She asked (demanded for) us to call her every time he comes into the office. So, student comes in today with a doctor note for his leg, taking him out of gym. My health aide calls mom as per her request to let him know he had been in. She starts SCREAMING that this is assinine, we are being condescending, we are *******s, etc. She was so loud I could hear her yelling from the other room. My aide hung up the phone, and called some admins to let them know. Lol so, a few minutes later, our athletic director (who is our "boss") calls us saying mom had called him to complain about us. She now wanted to be called when he got injured (again, he was NEVER injured at school, but at home, and she knew about it!) but...then also stated she wanted to be called whenever he came in at the end of the phone call. Which we did, and also is a contradiction! What the?? Our athletic director, and everyone else in administration, knows shes nuts. Why are some parents so insane!?[/quote']

I don't really know what we expect kids to do. They are not allowed to have meds at school that they can take themselves. (In my opinion a really, really short sighted and stupid policy) and then we complain when they come in for help. Perhaps the students thigh pain had increased since the injury occurred. I would be angry if my child came to see the nurse twice and not be notified. Calling the mom because her son had a note from the doctor was extremely passive aggressive.

I truly don't know why adults are so hard on kids.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

True and we're not normally so "hard." Honestly, if I had been in the office when he came back a 2nd time, I would have called home - but I wasn't, and he got the health aide, so that is what it is. But this student is also a known FF, (with a known crazy mother who yells at everyone over everything), so it's also harder to know when he's serious and when he's just crying wolf like usual. The 2nd time he came in was the end of the day too, he was about to go home anyway so I also get why the aide just sent him on. I don't think it was was passive aggressive to call, because she said every time he comes in. If we didn't call after she requested that then we could get in trouble/be yelled at for not calling. Yea I personally think it's stupid to call for that but are we supposed to call or not after a parent specifically says every time NOT only when he's hurt?

They aren't allowed to take meds for legal reasons and... because everyone is scared of "drugs" in schools. I personally think those over 18 should be allowed to carry, like a normal adult can. I also don't think I should have to call their parents since they're a legal adult in that instance but the district still makes me. I just had to call for a 19 yo student who has her own baby, to get permission to give her advil. So stupid to me, but the school wants to cover themselves I guess.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Sometimes kids make it hard on themselves, by doing the "boy who cried wolf" thing. This makes the school nurse's job very difficult. One example (out of 100's): I had a middle school student come in at the end of the day wailing and carrying on terribly about her knee. She could barely scream through her tears that she had fallen on her knee at gym class. She went on and on about how it was her "bad knee" and insisted I call her mom to come get her. When I called mom, she said to send her on the bus because she could not come get her. I iced the knee and wrapped it with an ace bandage and tried to calm her down. I then pushed the girl to the bus (which had to wait on me to get out there) and gave her crutches to use to get into her house. I was convinced that something had to be terribly wrong with her knee!

Two hours later, when I returned to the school to pick up my oldest son from ball practice, I saw this VERY SAME student running in shorts, chasing a toddler around the parking lot!!!!! She was waiting on the boys' practice to finish because she was on the girls' team that practiced next. Needless to say, now when she comes in I have a difficult time believing anything she says. When parents take up for their children who act this way, it only contributes to the problem, rather than improves it. It is difficult as a school nurse sometimes because your job is to try to keep kids in school and if I called every parent over every little scrape or complaint, the absentee rate would be outrageous. School nurses don't know everything, but we do try to do our best with the limited resources we have. I'm sure this boy's mom has wrongly "diagnosed" or messed up in some way too (like maybe if he was that bad she should have taken him to the doctor instead of sending him to school). She does not need to be so rude because he may have just wanted out of school. The worst thing a parent can tell a kid is "if you still feel bad at school, call me and I will come pick you up"...that is the same as a get-out-of-jail-free-card.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion