Wasn't the School Nurse right?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have a friend who has been teaching about 30 years. She was telling me and a group of friends/relatives this story. It is a little gross/TMI.

My teaching friend (we'll call Mary) had a female student who had a massive diarrhea accident in her class. Most of the accident happened while the student was standing. By the time the accident was mostly finished the student was pretty much covered from waist down. This happened in an 8th grade class with about 30 students to witness the whole event from start to finish.

Mary called the school nurse to see what to do. Neither Mary nor the school nurse felt they could send the student to the nurse's office because by this time not only was her clothes completey ruined from waist down but she was standing in a puddle that was about 12 inches diameter. They felt to send the student to the office ( a long way from the classroom) or even the bathroom down the hall would have caused a health hazard and would have greatly embarrassed an already very embarrassed 14 year old girl. Shortly after the students (some had started to laugh loudly and poke fun) were evacuated the student also lost control of her bladder :crying2:.

The janitors (all available ones were needed) and the school nurse brought clean up equipment to the classroom to clean the student. A teacher was posted at the door so no one unauthorized would walk in and the teacher posted at the door also served to block the window in the door. Mary told us that the only clothes that could be saved were her belt and her bra. Everything else had to be trashed (her shirt was tucked into her pants). Even her shoes and socks were beyond saving.

One of my cousins, an LPN, couldn't believe they did the clean up in the classroom instead of taking the student to the bathroom or the nurse's office. Even though Mary tried to explain that liquid feces would have been tracked almost halfway across the school my cousin didn't care. Mary tried to explain that it would have been horrible for a 14 year old girl to have to walk down the hall with any and everybody witnessing this accident and her soiled clothes, on top of the class seing it as well. For some reason my cousin firmly believed that the clean up should not have taken place in the classroom.

I am asking you all, if you don't mind, who was right? Did the school nurse make the right decision? I hope this all makes since and if I left out important details I will try to provide them. I did not witness the accident, but only have Mary's account of it. Mary told us that the girl's mother was very pleased with how it was handled.

BTW Mary had an in depth conversation with the girl's mother about the accident and the mother could only figure that the new depression meds the girl was on caused her to have a very upset stomach, to say the least.

I fill for her and. The nurse was right when I was 16 and in class I had my monthy and bleed all over the chair in front of a mostly male class !! I was told to run down to the office m. So I did then the bell rang for class change I heid in the bathroom then ran down to the office I left a blood trail the hole way all over the floors , steps, you name it .

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

Your cousin was wrong. What if the stool had something like C-diff growing in it. Traipsing down the hall and dripping stool would have contaminated half of the school, let along make that poor child feel awful.

As for the LPN thing, I was an LPN prior to my RN. It has nothing to do with degree. It's plain common sense!

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Oh wow, this brought a flashback for me! I started at a new school when I was in 8th grade. It was about a month into the school year and I went to school not feeling very well. After lunch I was feeling very green around the gills. Almost before I could realize what was about to occur I projectile vomited all over the place. Took out three of my fellow classmates, as well as our algebra textbooks and the front of my own shirt and pants. There was a chorus of EEEWWWWWWWWWW! and one girl in the class started to throw up as well from the sight/smell. I felt better, but I was MORTIFIED.

I got some teasing and ribbing, but most of it was in good nature. Some of my fellow guy classmates thought it was "cool". I think the worst that happened was that my new nickname was Barf Vader (it was the late 1970's and Star Wars had just come out). It's terrible the girl got teased in a mean way. I was definitely teased, but it I never got the feeling that my classmates were trying to be mean. What a way for the new kid to get noticed, lol.

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Specializes in Intermediate care.

oops- i didnt see that she had to change schools.

I don't blame her...poor thing.

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Oh wow, this brought a flashback for me! I started at a new school when I was in 8th grade. It was about a month into the school year and I went to school not feeling very well. After lunch I was feeling very green around the gills. Almost before I could realize what was about to occur I projectile vomited all over the place. Took out three of my fellow classmates, as well as our algebra textbooks and the front of my own shirt and pants. There was a chorus of EEEWWWWWWWWWW! and one girl in the class started to throw up as well from the sight/smell. I felt better, but I was MORTIFIED.

I got some teasing and ribbing, but most of it was in good nature. Some of my fellow guy classmates thought it was "cool". I think the worst that happened was that my new nickname was Barf Vader (it was the late 1970's and Star Wars had just come out). It's terrible the girl got teased in a mean way. I was definitely teased, but it I never got the feeling that my classmates were trying to be mean. What a way for the new kid to get noticed, lol.

LMAO :barf2:

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Oh wow, this brought a flashback for me! I started at a new school when I was in 8th grade. It was about a month into the school year and I went to school not feeling very well. After lunch I was feeling very green around the gills. Almost before I could realize what was about to occur I projectile vomited all over the place. Took out three of my fellow classmates, as well as our algebra textbooks and the front of my own shirt and pants. There was a chorus of EEEWWWWWWWWWW! and one girl in the class started to throw up as well from the sight/smell. I felt better, but I was MORTIFIED.

I got some teasing and ribbing, but most of it was in good nature. Some of my fellow guy classmates thought it was "cool". I think the worst that happened was that my new nickname was Barf Vader (it was the late 1970's and Star Wars had just come out). It's terrible the girl got teased in a mean way. I was definitely teased, but it I never got the feeling that my classmates were trying to be mean. What a way for the new kid to get noticed, lol.

lmao!:barf02:

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Specializes in ..

AZO49008, "Barf Vader" is AWESOME!

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Specializes in LTC.

As long as there was just the teacher and nurse in the room I see nothing wrong with this. It was preserving her dignity as much as possible!

I remember I was in 8th grade and at lunch the home ec class sold nachoes and cookies. I was cleaning up and it was in the home ec room. There was a class in the room of high schoolers and well the tub of cheese broke and I was covered in that liquidy cheese! I was so stinking embarrased! Feces is 10 times worse so I'm sure it would be 100 times more embarassing, plus already depressed!

I'm sorry but the poster that said that LPNs are not critical thinkers is DEAD wrong. My whole LPN year they really encouraged us the critically think. Labs and doing the technical aspects were only a PART of the LPN year. I am not a RN (yet) but I've heard the RN goes more in depth with this.

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The loss of bladder was probably a physiological response to what had happened mentally and emotionally. Sort of like you see on TV when the person has a gun to their head and wets them self.

I think you are right. Mary said that happened after she asked the girl what was wrong and tried to comfort her.

Personally I don't think I would have tried to send my child back to school after such an incident, especially since this wasn't young children who would be more likely to forget about such an event. I don't know how easy it is to change schools in a system, since usually the school you go to is determined by where you live. It would be kind of hard for a whole family to have to move for something like this.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Nurse made right call. The LPN is showing a lack of "critical thinking". LPN training directs one to do tasks. The LPN's that are really good develop this skill on their own over time. The ones who go strictly off their training never get past being technicians, therefore, if you have a mess, you clean it up in the bathroom. Your cousin could not have been more wrong.

Wow - I wish I had seen this before . . .I don't even know where to start. Please educate yourself better about what LPN/LVN training is before you decide that whatever this particular LPN decided to do was as a result of her being a trained to perform tasks, and not "critical thinking". That is just silly. Sounds liike you are regurgitating the sort of thing some BSN professors have said in the past.

LPNs are often charge nurses in LTCs, QA auditors, private duty nurses for children who go to school ventilator dependent, have O2 sats that look like a roller coaster, high risk for aspiration etc etc and yet they are stumped by what to do in this particular incident because they didn't learn critical thinking in LPN school? GMAB.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.

School nurse was right...no question about it.

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Wow - I wish I had seen this before . . .I don't even know where to start. Please educate yourself better about what LPN/LVN training is before you decide that whatever this particular LPN decided to do was as a result of her being a trained to perform tasks, and not "critical thinking". That is just silly. Sounds liike you are regurgitating the sort of thing some BSN professors have said in the past.

LPNs are often charge nurses in LTCs, QA auditors, private duty nurses for children who go to school ventilator dependent, have O2 sats that look like a roller coaster, high risk for aspiration etc etc and yet they are stumped by what to do in this particular incident because they didn't learn critical thinking in LPN school? GMAB.

Yes, I wish you had seen this earlier also. Not going to rehash the argument. It is dead.

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