When are you calling home.....

mc3, ASN, RN · Mar 11, 2012

Let's see...I call home if there are any scratches, red marks, etc on the child's face if they're in the younger grades. Of course, I always call home if someone bumps their head, even if there is no sign of injury. I call home if a child has a note from Mom to call home. I report my findings, and then it's up to the parent. (It annoys me to no end if there's nothing wrong with the kid...) I'll call home if I see a child for the same thing (stomach ache/headache) and it happens frequently..If there any large cuts or abrasions I'll let parent know. I'll call on my diabetic students if one has unusual (for them) Bg reading. I guess, to sum it up, I call for anything that's "unusual". The previous nurse probably called home for everything because she was tired of getting yelled at by helicopter parents. I've also started a file this year (known to me only) of parents that are outrageously unreasonable - the kind that call everyone on the school board because you didn't let them know their fifth grader had a paper cut. I once had a student who just didn't want to be in school, was in my clinic weekly or more, and the parents just gave in to her. They are the type that will call the principal if I don't call home. Eventually, guidance is involved when absences are excessive, and meet with parent to address the issue. You can't fight these people......

mc3

Jolie, BSN · Mar 13, 2012

Basically, I call home if I need information from the parents in order to provide safe and proper care for a child, or if the parents need information from me to understand what happened at school and continue with safe and proper care at home.

So any time I'm lacking the appropriate supplies or meds at school, any time I'm unsure of how to proceed with a health problem such as a blood sugar that's way out of the norm, any time I believe that the child needs to see a healthcare provider, any head or facial injury, etc.

One of the more unusual phone calls I made was to let Mom know that I had removed a tick from her son's scalp, and I was sending the little bugger home so that if she needed to follow up with her pediatrician, she could produce the insect. Didn't want her to think that Johnny was just collecting bugs!

mycsm · Mar 13, 2012

I call for the following:

obviously any ER send outs, any head/facial injuries (if they come home with a mark they DIDNT have when they got to school), any body part injury thatcna WAIT UNTIL after school for tx, lice, first time menses, too many visits to health office.