I'm in something like the 10th or 11th largest school district in the country, and we don't have nurses at the schools; we have "clinic aides." While some may be nurses or former nurses or have some other medical background, I believe the majority are not. I'm not sure what training they get on a regular basis, but I'm sure they are CPR certified. There are only 5 public health nurses throughout the whole district who rotate to do training, help with health screenings, etc. (and there are well over 100,000 students in the district).
The clinic aide has a whole protocol that she has to follow for pretty much every thing imaginable. For some stuff, they tell you to call 911, for some other stuff, you keep the kid in the clinic for 20 minutes max, and if they don't feel better at the end of 20 minutes, you call the parent and have them bring them home. And there are lots of other options in between. But the bottom line is that the clinic aide can't actually treat anyone for anything.
If the clinic aide is out for some reason, a trained staff secretary or a trained clinic volunteer fills in. The training is one half day session with the public health nurses (I've taken it).
I've only had kids in the school system for about 7 years, but I've never heard of a problem with this system.
I'd rather see volunteers spending time doing head lice checks than the principal.
Well, not to sure how to answer your question, but our school nurse is a secretary (no offense to the trade), but I believe all she has is CPR training and basic medical knowledge.
Head lice is check by the teachers' aide in my daughter's class, not sure what if any medical back ground she has.
I do know that if a child is hurt on the playground the use common sense and call the parents or the medics if they don't think they can handle the situation. They also don't keep any kids in school that show signs of illness.
We have a policy that no meds. are allowed except through the office and then if they require too much monitoring, they require a conference with a medical person (child's Dr., nurse, etc).
As far as volunteer nurses go, could it be a parent that works PT or has decided not to work at this time? As long as their documents are up to date and the school board covers liability ins. I'm not too sure that I would worry.
Now if there are problems with the above, then I'd be at the school board.
There are several buildings, lower elem, upper elem, middle, high. Our bldg. has about 320 kids. District wide - around 5000. Another thing I always wonder about is liability of the volunteer nurse. If you are a volunteer--are you even liable? Do nurses have to carry liability insurance, or would a school pick it up. Our school can't afford anything, it appears, how could they pay more insurance premiums. Anyone have input on that?
I would also be full of questions. I am in the school health profession in the state of MD and every year we must be recertified in cpr,firstaid, administration of medication etc. We are all at least CNAs and we document everything. In our county they have had school health professionals for the last 10-11 years and I realize that the secretaries handled everything before we were on the scene, but now adays there are so many students taking meds at school, many diabetics etc. How many students are in your school?
Your questions are definately warranted. I would take them to your school board.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
We no longer have school nurses (budget cuts). Secretaries refuse to do head lice checks, but still hand out meds, bandaids, etc. Our school admin. has determined Principals have to do the head lice checks. (They're not too happy about having this added to their job description.) In turn, principals and admin. have decided to ask for volunteer nurses to do this. I have problems with "volunteer nurses" having contact with my kid. They are actively seeking nurses "between jobs", or those currently employed with a hour or two to give. Why are these nurses between jobs, I want to know. Were they fired? Now, I don't mean to offend nurses, but as with any potential employee or volunteer in this case--I want to know why they are where they are. As a mom, I am not cool with this plan. Too many unknowns.
Any thoughts?
