Why parents! Why?!!

Nurse2Kids · Apr 23, 2018

PFS
A with MD documentation is ok at school; had a student with this, he will grow out it.
To OP - sounds like you need to speak with your front office too. They should have told you about this student and let you speak with mom.

What is PFSA?

MrsK_Nurse · Apr 23, 2018

Exactly Ruby_Jane...I was thinking the exact same thing. I sometimes have to educate parents on what a real fever is smh

Parents? I have to educate teachers!!!

ceelopez12 · Apr 23, 2018

So at what temperature is it okay to send students home. Im not a registered nurse but we send students home at 99.0- 99.8 stating its a low -grade fever since at anytime the temperature can rise.

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Apr 23, 2018

So...I'm *that* nurse, the one who sends her child to school on ibuprofen so that, at least for the first half of the day, I can work my shift and at least pretend that my child isn't sick enough to need me to stay off work. I'm also working as a pediatric nurse right now, and have 15-years of family/all-ages nursing and NP practice behind me. I have always advised parents to keep their kids at home if they have a fever (more than 38.5C). However, I also know the reality of being a parent who takes too much time off work to care for sick children. It's like being caught between a rock and a hard place.
I returned to nursing this past September after a 5-year lapse. My son got his first illness of the school year exactly 1.5 weeks later. I took 2 days off to care for him, for which my manager was very supportive. Then he got sick with a fever 3 weeks later. So I and my husband each took 2 days off to be with my son that week. My supervisor was good about it; however, she wasn't able to obtain coverage for me for one of the days, which was problematic for the doctor I work for. (I work in a small office where there is only one nurse per doctor.) Since then, my son has had a fever lasting a few days every 3 to 4 weeks. Both myself and the pediatrician I work with feel he likely has a periodic fever syndrome because other than a elevated WBC count, his labs are normal. But honestly, if I took time off every time my son has a fever, for the duration of his fever (3-6 days), I don't think I would still have a job to return to! My husband has definitely been fantastic and taken half of my son's sick days, but the reality is that neither of us can be off work as often as my son has a fever. Unfortunately, we don't have a back up person to take our children when they're sick, or we would definitely choose that option! So I guess what I'm saying is that most parents likely know that they're making a poor choice in sending their child to school with a fever, but sometimes, work dictates how often a parent can miss work. It's a sad reality. I never thought I would be the mom who does this. But right now, I have to be and I know I'm not the only parent in that boat.

Get your doctor to write out the diagnosis and I'd be okay with this - this fever has a suspected diagnosis and isn't the start of a contagion spreading around school. I have a student with this (didn't grow out of it as student is in high school) but I have a doctor's note and plan for release if temp is above a certain threshold higher than my typical one and/or that fever is affecting student's ability to be productive/comfortable at school.

LikeTheDeadSea, MSN, RN · Apr 23, 2018

So at what temperature is it okay to send students home. Im not a registered nurse but we send students home at 99.0- 99.8 stating its a low -grade fever since at anytime the temperature can rise.

Our district policy, written by MD is 100F. I cannot imply exclusion for anything under that. The summer camp I work has a policy written by a different MD that calls a fever anything above 100.5F for infirmary stays (residential camp) .

I have lots of kids who sit at 99 if they're wearing a sweater, so if they're 99.5+, I'll have them hang out and recheck in 10min, and often times it's back at normal or has gone past 100F.

If they're between 99-99.9 with other symptoms and look like they're about to tank, I'll express that to parents "No fever....but they look like they're struggling," if my gut tells me something is gonna manifest, but at the end of the day, it's the parents decision on that range.

Amethya · Apr 23, 2018

So at what temperature is it okay to send students home. Im not a registered nurse but we send students home at 99.0- 99.8 stating its a low -grade fever since at anytime the temperature can rise.

I would check your protocol on that, because mostly it's above 100 F that they send them home and until 24 hours free of fever with out medication, can come back.