Unsolicited Advice..do you get this, too?

[NanaPoo]

So, I'm at a private school housed within a church. We have a preschool (I am not their nurse although they use me as such & do not pay me) as well as lots of passersby including our parents, preschool parents and staff, church staff, and the occasional visiting church member.

One of my biggest problems comes from unsolicited advice from the random non-medical passing stranger (or, heck, non-stranger). Today a preschool teacher walked by to see a student in my clinic at the end of a very heavy nosebleed. It had lasted about 10 minutes but the bleed was finally slowing down. The teacher stopped in her tracks, looked at me and asked, "should she be holding her head back? or down??" I just stared blankly at her for a few seconds then said, "she should be holding her head exactly the way she's holding her head right now."

WTH?? And a few weeks ago a student had a fractured patella and was in a full leg cast. He'd been having horrible itching inside his cast and I had a rounded off, plastic hanger I let him use to scratch inside there sometimes with explicit instructions to not scratch too hard or for too long. I'd spoken with his mom & she had been doing the same thing at home. So, he was literally standing beside me scratching his leg and the PRINCIPAL walked up and quietly pulled me aside and whispered, "do you see what he's doing?? Is that okay?? Do you need to stop him??"

Seriously?? Do things really appear to be so out of control that people think they need to step in and take over my clinic? How do people have the nerve to insert their opinions when they have zero background on the kid I'm caring for, just walked into the situation, and have zero medical experience? Aaaargh...this is driving me crazy!

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

Dr. Oz told them differently. Everyone is now an expert, even without Holiday Inn Express. I have to hold my tongue sometimes. I so want to say "they just decided to do away with nursing degrees since WebMD is so good".

[KKEGS, MSN, RN]

I would like to say, "Wow! Where in the world did you find the time to get a nursing degree in addition to your teaching degree?" Of course I don't say it. But I'd like to.

[tining, BSN, RN]

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Start going to their classrooms & critiquing them. I bet those comments would stop. Lol.

[FloridaBeagle]

Oh yeah. The smug teacher who tells me the student she sent down 3 times spiked a 103 fever overnight (even though I told the teacher multiple times she had a 98.8 temp for me and I can't demand a parent leave work because we "think" they're sick), and the childcare aide who thinks a student needs stitches (well, it had stopped bleeding two hours ago, but that's what happens when a 5 year old goes back to class and picks off the clot!) cafeteria staff freaking out about eczema, and on and on and on....

It's still better than working the overnight shift on weekends, holidays, etc.

[WineRN]

Oh yeah. The smug teacher who tells me the student she sent down 3 times spiked a 103 fever overnight (even though I told the teacher multiple times she had a 98.8 temp for me and I can't demand a parent leave work because we "think" they're sick),

THIS IS MY LIFE! I have a certain teacher that will send me the same child over and over with notes asking if I took the temp...

[JerseyTomatoMDCrab, BSN]

It truly is a universal thing for school nurses, I think, and one of the most annoying things about the job.

[NanaPoo]

Ugh. So the school receptionist calls this morning to tell me a Kindergartener's little sister has lice. Okay...to be nice I'll do a head check when he gets out of chapel.

She immediately calls back & says the administrative assistant wants me to go across the street, pull this kid out of chapel NOW, and do his head check. What if the kids sitting next to him are catching his lice?

Umm, no. 1) I will NOT pull him from chapel STAT for a head check. 2) I don't recall you being listed as my supervisor OR hearing that you'd recently completed your medical degree.

I forwarded her the link on "Demystifying Pediculosis" from NASN that someone had shared here and let her know that it was practically impossible to "catch" lice while sitting next to someone in chapel and that it wasn't emergent to pull him for a check at that moment...basically a "pull your undies from your crack" email. Seriously, people. Slow your roll. Should I take a cup in there to show her the "lice" that I found only to then pretend I've dropped them all over her desk??

[tining, BSN, RN]

Are you new to this school? If yes, then I would expect this until they know they can't roll over on you. If you have been there a while and are still getting this reverb, I would ask to speak with the teachers at the next staff meeting.

[djh123]

A resident's son told more than one of us all kinds of specifics re: his mother's blood sugar levels, what meds he did and didn't want her on, etc. I won't go on, but it was the same kind of thing you're talking about.

[Neats, BSN]

I view this as;

The person who is questioning the scene cares about the person(s). With us living in the age of so much information thrown at us on a daily basis it is easy to think we have gained knowledge...and a lot of it. It is up to nursing professional to remain professional and reaffirm that the current intervention is the best, I always add that with so much information at our disposal it is easy to assume something else, it is a great thing you care enough to ask.

If the person is really questioning the intervention and being say (being obnoxious or not caring) then I would say something to the effect of Oh my...I knew you were a teacher, I appreciate teachers so very much and did not realize you had medical training as well, now I appreciate you even more but I do not remember your suggestion in nursing school or in my past nursing experience.

I really think for a person to speak up like this and question the intervention it comes form a caring heart, this makes my response softer.