We've talked about this a million times...

Published

Specializes in Telemetry, Gastroenterology, School Nrs.

... and yet it still drives me absolutely bonkers when a teacher undermines my decision to send a kid back to class.

Little one (LO) came to school with a "get out of jail free" note- you know, the ones that say something like, "________ wasn't feeling well yesterday, please call..."

Well, LO had no signs or symptoms warranting a call home, and this particular note asked for a phone call home "IF" it was felt he needed to be picked up.

Sent him back to class and his teacher called me immediately to say "he is coughing and needs to go home. My whole family has had this and I know what is going to happen." ::Insert eye roll::

I called and stressed to mom that it was her decision to make, that I had sent him back to class but his teacher wanted me to call.

Why send them to me if you are just gonna argue and undermine? Why not just go ahead and call yourself? I will mention this to her when I get the chance, I just needed to vent!

12 more days...

Yup, I hear you. I had a few teachers who were like that. They seem to finally realize that if they let me do my job, I can in fact make THEIR jobs easier as well. Now I will sometimes get "Do you want me to call Mom"? And I politely say "Nope, that's my job and that's why they pay me the big bucks" :cheeky: They finally get it.

Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.

My secretaries do this to me sometimes, but it stopped after I reported them.

Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

I think somewhere the teacher was told that coughing is contagious. Maybe it is (TB), maybe it's not. At any rate....make like Taylor Swift and shake it off. I had a teacher send a lice letter out today (without my signature) that she'd gotten from another teacher at another campus. Whatever. I just documented that I had not seen the alleged lice and that the teacher jumped in the 15 minutes that it took me to finish assessing a tachycardic kid and get back to my email....

Yes!! This too irks my nerves!! I call the parents and let them know what's going on and if the parents want the child to go back to class, I write on the slip, "Per mom/dad to return back to class" and that usually works.

This is where I would become more stubborn than a mule and refuse to even call. Thank goodness I work at a high school!!!

Specializes in IMC, school nursing.

Thankfully I only have 1 that does this and, honestly, I respect her input. She sees when they just can't do school today. She is K and 1st, so I trust her judgement. My administration is overly supportive of our decisions.

Specializes in school/military/OR/home health.
Yes!! This too irks my nerves!! I call the parents and let them know what's going on and if the parents want the child to go back to class, I write on the slip, "Per mom/dad to return back to class" and that usually works.

This is what I did in elementary. I realized at some point that my nurse slips were more for the teachers to see what I was doing than the parents, and then the teacher's use of the slips dramatically declined. I guess they got tired of my little sarcastic notes. But they did stop calling parents behind my back.

Specializes in School nursing.
I think somewhere the teacher was told that coughing is contagious. Maybe it is (TB), maybe it's not. At any rate....make like Taylor Swift and shake it off. I had a teacher send a lice letter out today (without my signature) that she'd gotten from another teacher at another campus. Whatever. I just documented that I had not seen the alleged lice and that the teacher jumped in the 15 minutes that it took me to finish assessing a tachycardic kid and get back to my email....

Wow. My admins would (rightly and thankfully) be pissed at this.

C'mon now!

Specializes in School Nursing, Pediatrics.

This drives me crazy as well, I feel like saying to the teacher "so basically you DO NOT want this child in class today, right?". But alas, if I said everything I wanted to I wouldn't have a job! LOL

Anyway, when this happens, I usually say something to the parent along the lines of "The teacher feels it is best if he go home today, as he is not getting much out of the lessons and is distracted by his cough (or whatever)."

And we have talked about this too....

"EVERYONE IS A NURSE UNTIL THEY SEE BLOOD OR VOMIT!!!" Same teacher that can diagnose Ebola is the very same one that cannot even hand a kid a tissue and tell them to pinch their nose. Selective diagnosing related to how annoying student is to teacher.

Specializes in School Nursing, Hospice,Med-Surg.

I have a 3rd grade teacher with diagnosing abilities. She's fresh out of school so she's roughly 23 years old. She sends notes down with her kids that say:

"I saw a lice bug jump out of Suzy's hair. She has a lice infestation."

"Anna has a mild concussion. She needs to see a doctor."

"Joey has the flu."

+ Join the Discussion