What's something you never thought you'd have to deal with as a school nurse?

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Curious what things you never thought you'd see or deal with as a school nurse. My naive self never thought I'd have one of my high schoolers come in c/o a hangover....no I cannot send you home because you're hungover - however you do get bonus points for the honesty on why you're sick. Go get some junk food and a Gatorade from the vending machine, best of luck solider - play stupid games win stupid prizes. 

  

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Specializes in pediatrics, school nursing.

I think I never expected so many visits from the adults in the building and therefore been expected to be an expert in every subspecialty - It seems that as soon as you give an adult a nurse to interact with, they immediately dump every ailment on said nurse and/or expect you to fix every little healthcare problem for them. I've heard it all - aches and pains, bowel issues, skin issues, gyn issues. And granted, some of these people don't feel comfortable talking to anyone else and need an unbiased opinion or some validation or are freaked out by a diagnosis, but more often than not, it's just BS. 

I just heard from a colleague who is newer to my district that a teacher - who is in her late 30s and has been an educator for 10+ years - has repeatedly come to her office asking the nurse to put aquaphor on a skin crack and apply a bandaid. I told her to shut that ish down. 

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Specializes in kids.

The amazing ability of a parent to "forget" that the same forms they needed to fill out in ES or MS, still need to be done in HS. Emergency plans, orders for meds. annual health info...mind boggling.

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- I'm trained to see students who needs pregnancy test and plan Bs in high school. I'm required to ask when was the last intercourse, imagine my internal shock when I heard 10am in a 8am start of school. 

- Seeing a bottle of rum w/ a chaser after school security checked the student's bag. 

- Handcuffed students 

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Specializes in kids.
Tocino said:

 

- Handcuffed students ☹️

 

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Tocino said:

I'm trained to see students who needs pregnancy test and plan Bs in high school.  

Like clockwork the week after prom in our high school and everyone is convinced that they're pregnant. I can't give out pregnancy tests, but I refer them to our local Planned Parenthood/ health dept. I'm absolutely willing to help and guide to resources but also eww....I don't want to know you did that this weekend, I knew you when you were a baby (I'm from a very small town)😅

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He's a 16 y/o that punched a dean and the security. 

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nurse__ab19 said:

Like clockwork the week after prom in our high school and everyone is convinced that they're pregnant. I can't give out pregnancy tests, but I refer them to our local Planned Parenthood/ health dept. I'm absolutely willing to help and guide to resources but also eww....I don't want to know you did that this weekend, I knew you when you were a baby (I'm from a very small town)😅

😂 I've heard more than enough from them. They like opening up to me since I think they don't have any adult to talk to.

Thank you for guiding them! 

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k1p1ssk said:

 

 

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k1p1ssk said:

I  I told her to shut that ish down. 

If it's regular thing the teacher can buy their own aquaphor and a supply of bandages but in 20 years of ED nursing I've never heard of the stuff and wonder why you'd even stock it. Seems like you'd be busy enough adminstering the boatlads of psychotropic meds today's kids are on.

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Specializes in pediatrics, school nursing.
floydnightingale said:

If it's regular thing the teacher can buy their own aquaphor and a supply of bandages but in 20 years of ED nursing I've never heard of the stuff and wonder why you'd even stock it. Seems like you'd be busy enough adminstering the boatlads of psychotropic meds today's kids are on.

Aquaphor is similar to Vaseline, but it works really well for actually healing dry, cracked skin! 

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