When teachers go behind your back...

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And call a parent to pick up a "sick" child after you, as the school health professional, have determined that they do not need to be picked up. What do I do?!? I hate confrontation and this is the first instance of a teacher going behind my back. The father of this student came to pick up his daughter and I knew nothing about it. I felt like a complete idiot. :madface:

Specializes in School Nursing.
The text from students to parents happens quite frequently at my HS. There is just no way to get around technology, but the attendance clerk and I are on the same page. If she has a parent come to sign their student out, she calls me to find out if I am sending them home. If I haven't seen the student or they do not meet the criteria to be sent home, she explains to the parent that it is their right to take their student home, but it will be an unexcused absence.
.

Yep, this is what we do at my middle school as well.

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Specializes in Healthcare risk management and liability.

Mrs. RiskManager has been an elementary school teacher for over 20 years. She sends all kids complaining of illness, owies and the like to the health room. She does not do any assessments herself or send kids home without going through the health room. She also loops in the health room regarding any communciations from the parents regarding the health status of their kids. Mr. RiskManager approves of this. She does, however, confiscate the cold packs when the kids come back from the health room and are more focused on playing with the packs rather than applying them to the owies.

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We send out an email at the beginning of the school year explaining that if a student is sick they are NOT to call from the classroom. If it happens once I'll address it with the teacher, after that it goes to administration.

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Specializes in Med-surg, school nursing..

I appreciate the teacher who will filter out the kids before they send them to me. The paper-cuts, the imaginary bumps, the arm that hurts from shots as a baby.

What I do no appreciate is the teachers or even instructional assistants who call parents, or tell parents one thing and me another.

A couple of examples: A teacher called a parent for a kid with an "itchy butt". I had the kid in my office the day before and had called mom, she said that he usually doesn't wipe well and will get irritated. But I also let her know how to check for pinworms as that could potentially be the culprit. The next day mom picks the kids up because the teacher called her about his itchy butt.

My attendance secretary informed her quickly that she isn't to do that again.

An IA sent an asthmatic to me saying he was coughing so much he couldn't get anything done. Sats 89-90% horrible wheezing. Called mom and we argued back and forth as she did not want to pick him up (he has been in the hospital for a week just the previous week). Later mom tells me that the IA told her the kid wasn't coughing at all. AS HE WAS SITTING THERE IN MY OFFICE COUGHING.

OY!!!

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

Yikes - he might have just been in the hospital but that doesn't mean he's ok or under control. That's like walking someone out of the ER, watching them get hit by a truck and saying "but you were JUST in the ER!!"

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Mr. Risk Manager, we LOVE teachers like Mrs. Risk Manager. Please tell her to keep the good work!

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

This is a rare occurrence on my campus since I, yearly, send out an email to the entire campus reminding them my RN license makes me responsible for the health assessments and health needs of the students. I remind them that if I am not involved in any health related action associated with a student the person initiating the action and the campus principal are both personally responsible for any and every occurrence that may arise from that action. My principal doesn't want to be in this situation...and thus the end result works to stop this kind of thing.

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The text from students to parents happens quite frequently at my HS. There is just no way to get around technology, but the attendance clerk and I are on the same page. If she has a parent come to sign their student out, she calls me to find out if I am sending them home. If I haven't seen the student or they do not meet the criteria to be sent home, she explains to the parent that it is their right to take their student home, but it will be an unexcused absence.

(This is why my 15 year old son will never have a cell phone until he is 18 and has a job and can buy one and pay the monthly fee on his own. Poor kid - he has 3 adult siblings who went to school when cell phones were not really part of the school culture so to speak and they had to actually go to the office and call home). ;)

We send out an email at the beginning of the school year explaining that if a student is sick they are NOT to call from the classroom. If it happens once I'll address it with the teacher, after that it goes to administration.

Great idea. With my school nurse job that would have been difficult. My real office was at the D.O. with the administrators. I had 11 campuses in 2 different towns. So basically, the principal's secretaries did all the calling home for sick kids.

They were tough on the kids though :up: and didn't let them get away with fake illnesses.

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I worked in schools for several years before nursing. Kids would text their parents and say "Come get me" (not that yours did this) and the parents would show up. Schools now seem powerless to enforce their own rules. Whatever parents want, they get. They would write kids notes to routinely miss first period because "We didn't do anything." But they want all the makeup work, and it's always excused. I'm sorry!

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OMG! This happened to me this week. Kid came in with a slightly red conjunctiva in one eye. He was told by the teacher he had pink eye. We looked at him and determined that it was mildly red conjunctiva in eye, told him to keep washing his hands and to not touch other kids. No discharge, just redness. Then we sent his happy behind back to class (frequent flyer). Next thing we know his mother is here to pick him up because the teacher called her and told her he was sending the kid home for pink eye. Grrrrr. I stuck the state health guidelines on pinkeye in his mailbox and told the principal that I did not send kiddo home, nor was I mandated to. So, that's how I handled the issue. I try not to get too worked up over these issues. If I did, I would be mad all the time! (kids are constantly texting mom to come get them without seeing me first.) If it becomes a regular issue, then I would have a nice 'come to Jesus' meeting with the teacher in question and lay it out.

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I worked in schools for several years before nursing. Kids would text their parents and say "Come get me" (not that yours did this) and the parents would show up. Schools now seem powerless to enforce their own rules. Whatever parents want, they get. They would write kids notes to routinely miss first period because "We didn't do anything." But they want all the makeup work, and it's always excused. I'm sorry!

Where do you live?

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Well, first of all, you can't know what people don't tell you! So don't feel like an idiot. I've been in situations when kids have texted there parents and I haven't seem them. Usually I get a call from the front office and I'll talk to the parents and explain that I haven't seen the kids, they need to be evaluated by me.

Sounds like this is a great opportunity for staff education in policies of health and school management though.

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