I just learned that most schools have nurses.

[KungFuPanda]

Don’t laugh! How did I miss this? I never had a school nurse in rural WV. I assumed it as a city thing. My daughter informs me that she never heard of a school without a nurse. This came up because my graceful child sliced her finger on an exacto knife while setting up her classroom. It looked like a crime scene. She’s their first workman’s comp incident this year. School is virtual until at least January, but teachers can work some days from their rooms. It’s a good thing the nurse was working on-site today!

 

ETA: I have an elementary ed degree. 🤣

Edited September 9, 2020 by KungFuPanda

[Catwoman]

I guess we’re even because I didn’t know there was such a thing as a school WITHOUT a school nurse! 😉 

[Acorn]

In our area, a school nurse might have more than one school within the district. The couple of times I had a kid ill or injuried, it was never during the actual nurse hours.

[KungFuPanda]

1 minute ago, Catwoman said:

I guess we’re even because I didn’t know there was such a thing as a school WITHOUT a school nurse! 😉 

I’m learning that everyone knew this but me. 🤣

[J-rap]

That's funny!  I know my own elementary school had a nurse, but I never had to see her.

My dd, on the other hand, apparently used to ask to go to the nurse almost daily when she got bored in class.  (We didn't start homeschooling her until 3rd grade.) 

[Shoeless]

I still remember the name of my elementary school nurse 40 years later: Mrs. McCloskey.  She was available all day, every day for any kid that felt sick, needed medication administered, etc. She also taught some classes on nutrition, safety, dental hygiene, and health. And she had Slim Goodbody to come to our school, too! :D 

Incidentally, school nurses are in short supply.  It was an issue before the pandemic.   https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nurse-shortages-at-schools-could-be-putting-your-child-at-risk/

[hippiemamato3]

Schools in our district have one nurse in each school, with the exception being the high school - it has 2. 

[Pen]

 

I’ve never been in a school with a school nurse and our area schools don’t have them. 

[HS Mom in NC]

I assumed it wasn't legal to have a ps without a nurse either full time or rotating around schools in small districts. Turns out I was wrong. I met all my school nurses over the years and I attended 1 explosively growing school district K-12.

[vonfirmath]

40 minutes ago, Catwoman said:

I guess we’re even because I didn’t know there was such a thing as a school WITHOUT a school nurse! 😉 

I only know because it comes up sometime how lucky we are to have a nurse at every school because some districts share a nurse with other campuses.

[Pen]

 

Google:

“According to the National Association of School Nurses (NASN), only about 40 percent of all U.S. schools have a full-time nurse; just 35 percent have a part-time nurse, and 25 percent have no nurse at all.”

 

[happi duck]

Growing up our K-8 had a nurse.  We called her Nurse Last name and she always ended up embarrassing kids. 😞

When I taught we started out with a nurse in each building, then a shared nurse, then no nurse.  The secretary had to learn when and how to use epi pens etc.

[Arcadia]

DS15 attended a K-8 public school so there was a school nurse onsite. The two K-5th elementary schools shared a nurse. All three schools are within a mile of each other, and a fire station with paramedics is about equidistant from all three. All schools have a room designated as “sick bay”/nurse station where medications and epipens are kept. 

DS15 used to puke at least once a year so the school nurse and school office staff knows me well.

[Farrar]

They are increasingly shared between lots of schools, which I personally think defeats the point. I think they used to be more common.

[MercyA]

Oh, I used to love to go to the nurse when I wasn't feeling well. She'd have me lie down on the comfy little bed and pull the curtain around me and I'd listen to her quietly work until my mom came to pick me up. ❤️

She also fixed up scraped knees with iodine and dealt with all kinds of playground injuries.

All schools should have a nurse. I'm surprised some don't!

[Guest]

The only school I taught at that had a full time nurse had a class for medically involved children. The only time the school I spent my last 8 years at had a nurse was on field day and to do eye exams at the start of the school year. I did EpiPen and glycogen training every year, along with the PE teacher and the secretary, and the secretary handed out medication and ran breathing machines for kids with athsma. We had a clinic, but no nurse. 

[Ali in OR]

I've never known a west coast school with a nurse--none I've attended or taught in. My current school has a health assistant and we are supposed to be very careful to never refer to her as a nurse--legal liability reasons. I'm sure she's paid less than half what a nurse would be paid. We send kids down to the health room for migraines, stomach aches, lots of mental health "need a break" reasons. She also keeps the meds for students who need to take a med in the middle of the day. The district has 2 or 3 nurses who as far as I can see mostly do trainings and attend IEP meetings (there was always a nurse at my dd's meetings). They manage all of the health information for kids with more serious issues (diabetes, seizures, severe allergies).

[Terabith]

When I was a kid, none of our schools, even our huge high school, had nurses, either in Tennessee or when I moved to South Dakota.  

My kids' schools have had them, except for the tiny private school oldest is attending, which has always surprised me.  I wasn't super surprised the Catholic school had one, or the huge giant high school, but I was really surprised my younger one's public middle school had one.  

[Jentrovert]

1 hour ago, Pen said:

 

I’ve never been in a school with a school nurse and our area schools don’t have them. 

Same. When I was in school, if we needed a bandaid or something like that, the school secretary had a few first aid supplies at her desk. Anyone who was sick would sit in her office until someone picked them up.

[Bootsie]

We did not have a school nurse when I was growing up.  There was one nurse for the entire district who would come to the school maybe one day each year and do some type of health education.  She would visit a school of there was an outbreak of something like lice or handle things such as measles outbreaks.   It seems as if she might have also been involved in the hearing tests that were done at the school.  We also didn't have a school counselor--it was the classroom teachers, a librarian, a principal, the receptionist, and if it was a large school an assistant principal.  That's it.  

[happi duck]

In old movies they sometimes show nurses on staff at factories etc.  Was that true?  If so does that still happen?  More nurses seems like a good idea!

[Just Kate]

Also grew up in WV 😉 and we never had a school nurse. My kids attend public school in WV and I have no clue whether they have nurses or not. Will have to look into that!

Edited September 10, 2020 by Just Kate

[theelfqueen]

3 hours ago, Margaret in CO said:

We have a nurse who serves the whole district. Want to feel old? She is the same age as my second kid! The girls were on swim team together. 

 When I run into these weird grown-up people who were children my kids age I turn into some doddering lady who calls them "Dear" ... except for "the guys" (Oldest's best friends from High School and College) somehow they're still just themselves and so am I... but some girl DS went to middleschool...  I'm some old weirdo with toffees in my handbag or something (note I do not have toffees, or a handbag). 

[Ausmumof3]

Hmm I think the schools I went to all had them except maybe the little rural one I was only at for a year though I just can’t remember so it might have.  I remember going when I vomited on my birthday and once for Panadol for bad menstrual cramps.  I have no idea if the person was actually a nurse but definitely a designated sick child person.  The school I went to in high also has a well being officer now but that’s more like a counsellor I think.  

[Ausmumof3]

1 hour ago, happi duck said:

In old movies they sometimes show nurses on staff at factories etc.  Was that true?  If so does that still happen?  More nurses seems like a good idea!

I don’t know but I know that in some factories they had a reader who would read stories or news to the workers.

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/factory-lectors-1910/

that would have been a job I wouldn’t have minded if my voice would hold out.

[rebcoola]

Our ALE shares one with the elementary school but they are on the same property.  I think they are able to use the walkie talkies to call her for an injury.  The nurse is all who checks immunization records and calls if you are behind.  

[Clemsondana]

Our elementary school (FL in the 80s) had one in the clinic part-time and the rest of the time the clinic was staffed with parents.  I don't remember there being one in the middle school, but there might have been.  The jr high and high school in WV did not have them.  

[Guest]

I’ll never forget my high school nurse, because I remember when a former classmate died, I went to the nurse because I was “sick”. But really, I was grief-stricken. She had known the student, intuited my real reason for feeling “sick” and cried with me, hugging me tightly and saying, “I know; I loved him too.” 

[Carrie12345]

I think our semi-rural but large district has nurses in all buildings, but that might have changed since the early 2000s.

I went to a small suburban K-12 district with 5 schools and always 5 full-time nurses. I was genuinely shocked to find out that wasn’t the case everywhere. Our nurses were kept busy with headaches, pukers,  injures, medications, lice checks, hearing, height, and weight days, etc.  I’m not a fan of the idea of other staff members having to take on all that in addition to their regular job.
I had a LOT of headaches and cramps growing up, so I knew all my nurses. We also had gym 5 days a week, so yeah.

[QueenCat]

Every place we've ever lived has had a full-time nurse in every school. 

[Gobblygook]

I'm in the suburbs of a major Midwestern city and we always had a nurse's office growing up -- but over the years, at least in this area, the "nurse" is often a medical assistant overseen by an RN who covers several schools. (My mom is a retired RN, and over the same time period, RNs have been phased out in clinic settings for cost-cutting purposes wherever possible, in favor of medical assistants.) I have a young medically-fragile child who has been in public school until this year and we've been lucky to always have at least an LPN in his schools, although the RN is also involved in his care from an IEP/504 planning standpoint. I know friends in other parts of the countries with children who have diabetes, and they've commented that the lack of school nurses in some schools is a serious concern for kids like hers. 

My oldest son's private high school does not have a school nurse, but the local school district provides some services in that area. I'm not really sure what, as it's never been an issue for him. 

Edited September 10, 2020 by Gobblygook

[gstharr]

I thought all schools have a murse. Though, the private religion affiliated school that my kid attended k-5 strongly preferred prayer over medicince.  Still it has a health office. The lady running the office clearly had medical training  but never referred to herself as a nurse.  She would treat with otc medicines on parent's request.

[ktgrok]

When I was a kid parents who were nurses took turns volunteering in the nurses office. 

[wendyroo]

Growing up in rural Michigan, our school district in the '80s and '90s employed one nurse for the ~9 schools which were geographically far-flung.

She spent most of her time at the high school, and only came to the other schools once or twice a year to do eye checks and the like.

The secretaries did almost all the routine medical care - handing out medicine, dealing with puking and headaches, bandaging injuries.

[istillluvpink]

They are not common in my area of Michigan.  There weren't any in our school district when dd (20) was in school.  And from what I've heard from others, few, if any districts in our ISD have them.

DD has type 1 diabetes. Every year I went in to train school secretaries and aides how to care for her along with giving teacher's basic instructions etc along with writing up detailed instructions.  I showed them how to give shots, count carbs, deal with low blood sugar, how to administer emergency glucagon shots, use an insulin pump etc.  One year for summer camp/child care I had to write up a four to five page instruction sheet on how to do the things needed with her insulin pump.  Button push by button push.  They said the official pump manual was too confusing and long.  Even though I binder clipped the pages they needed together so they didn't have to worry about the rest of the manual.

I didn't homeschool because I needed to work for health insurance due to dh's self employment.  Fun times.  

Edited September 10, 2020 by istillluvpink

[SKL]

I think all of our state's schools have a nurse, but the nurse may not be full-time at each school.

When I was an elementary school kid, our nurse was only there on Thursdays.  It was pure coincidence that I often got a belly ache and asked to be excused early on Thursdays.  Pure coincidence.  (In those days, they would let you walk home alone and chill in your empty house if you faked sick well enough.)

Probably my initial awareness of school nurses was from the days when they lined kids up to get booster shots at school.  Anyone remember those days?

[Lb20inblue]

I don't think I ever went to a school that didn't have at least a full time school nurse for school.  In high school, there was a whole clinic with a PA and two nurses.  I am floored now reading through and realizing that having a full time nurse is uncommon in some parts of the US.  

[historically accurate]

11 hours ago, happi duck said:

In old movies they sometimes show nurses on staff at factories etc.  Was that true?  If so does that still happen?  More nurses seems like a good idea!

We live close to a large auto assembly plant. Both of my parents worked there for years. They have a medical office; I know it had at least one nurse at one point as a lady from our church worked there. My father cut his hand very badly on some sharp metal on a car body one year (early 90s I think?). The medical office was not busy that evening, so the nurse stitched his hand up himself. He did such a good job Dad didn't even have much of a scar; he was hoping for a nice big scar since workman's comp paid out more if the cut "looked bad" LOL.

[Loowit]

The school I went to did not have a nurse.  They had a health room with a couple beds and some first aid supplies.  If we were sick the school secretary would take our temp and call our parents, then we laid down by ourselves until our parents showed up.

Some of the bigger districts around here have a couple school nurses, but they rotate between schools.  That is part of why I didn't want my son with severe food allergies to attend public school.  They wanted to keep the epi-pens locked in the nurse room and the kid would have to wait until a nurse could get there to administer it.  I am not sure if that policy has changed or not.

[Library Momma]

I don't think there is a public school in the state of CT that doesn't have a nurse on staff, and most of our schools are small (each city or town is it's own district for the most part).  Inner city schools usually have some sort of heath center that goes above and beyond the normal school nurse scenario.

I was just speaking with someone yesterday about what a terrible job being an elementary school nurse must be.  Between vomiting and lice and now Covid - yuk!

 

[prairiewindmomma]

17 hours ago, Ali in OR said:

I've never known a west coast school with a nurse--none I've attended or taught in. My current school has a health assistant and we are supposed to be very careful to never refer to her as a nurse--legal liability reasons. I'm sure she's paid less than half what a nurse would be paid. We send kids down to the health room for migraines, stomach aches, lots of mental health "need a break" reasons. She also keeps the meds for students who need to take a med in the middle of the day. The district has 2 or 3 nurses who as far as I can see mostly do trainings and attend IEP meetings (there was always a nurse at my dd's meetings). They manage all of the health information for kids with more serious issues (diabetes, seizures, severe allergies).

Are you in a smaller district? 

My assigned elementary has four nurses in building. Three are assigned directly 1:1 or 1:3 to students (very high needs medical, in the life skills room). It is the district assigned elementary for all of the high needs medical. One nurse has her own office and she has a medical assistant/secretary to help with minor illness, simple Rx administration, etc. Interestingly she doesn’t handle the school’s health management plans. (Or at least I deal with the district nurse assigned to that school for my kids.)
 

The assigned jr high has a part time nurse and a full time assistant who also does attendance and something else in the front office. The high needs kids aren’t in that building because it’s bathrooms aren’t as accessible (legacy building) as others in the district. Kids can self carry meds like epipens and inhalers, which I think is why that building is staffed less heavily. They have three counselors instead for mental health services.

Our district also has health clinics in school buildings themselves that do vaccinations, minor illness care, and chronic illness care (diabetes/asthma level—not the super complex stuff). They all have nurses, and accept medical insurance if you have it.
 

 

[ktgrok]

3 hours ago, beckyjo said:

We live close to a large auto assembly plant. Both of my parents worked there for years. They have a medical office; I know it had at least one nurse at one point as a lady from our church worked there. My father cut his hand very badly on some sharp metal on a car body one year (early 90s I think?). The medical office was not busy that evening, so the nurse stitched his hand up himself. He did such a good job Dad didn't even have much of a scar; he was hoping for a nice big scar since workman's comp paid out more if the cut "looked bad" LOL.

My husband works for a major company (not a factory) and they have a clinic on site. Sort of like a Minute Clinic set up - they can check for strep, write antibiotics, do basic labwork, etc. All free for employees. 

My friend works for a sheriff's department as a crossing guard and they have a clinic as well. 

[Ali in OR]

7 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Are you in a smaller district? 

My assigned elementary has four nurses in building. Three are assigned directly 1:1 or 1:3 to students (very high needs medical, in the life skills room). It is the district assigned elementary for all of the high needs medical. One nurse has her own office and she has a medical assistant/secretary to help with minor illness, simple Rx administration, etc. Interestingly she doesn’t handle the school’s health management plans. (Or at least I deal with the district nurse assigned to that school for my kids.)
 

The assigned jr high has a part time nurse and a full time assistant who also does attendance and something else in the front office. The high needs kids aren’t in that building because it’s bathrooms aren’t as accessible (legacy building) as others in the district. Kids can self carry meds like epipens and inhalers, which I think is why that building is staffed less heavily. They have three counselors instead for mental health services.

Our district also has health clinics in school buildings themselves that do vaccinations, minor illness care, and chronic illness care (diabetes/asthma level—not the super complex stuff). They all have nurses, and accept medical insurance if you have it.
 

 

Looks like our total enrollment (at least before this year) has been about 6,700. Our high schools are 5A in sports, so not the largest but fair sized. My dd went through the life skills program throughout and never had a school nurse. The district nurse trained the EAs in the life skills program on how to use a Diastat for dd's seizures, for example. And I trained the nurse as far as making sure she understood and documented dd's protocol, because one kid's seizure protocol may be quite different from another's. She wouldn't be on site if dd actually had a seizure; it's the EA who was always right by dd. Twice the EAs called EMTs to be on the safe side when they thought dd acted weird after a Diastat (rectal valium to stop a seizure)--maybe if they were nurses they wouldn't have had to do that (dd was fine, but better safe than sorry). EA's get lots of training to be able to handle each student's medical issues. I'm an EA just helping out with math classes but still get fully trained for general things like CPR/FIrst Aid and very specific things, like how to handle one of my student's severe allergic reactions to nuts (he's autistic and may or may not be ready to handle it himself). So care of students is much more decentralized than if we had a nurse in building, but I think it works. After all, I'm not a nurse but have been trained to handle dd's seizures.

[QueenCat]

On 9/9/2020 at 6:59 PM, KungFuPanda said:

Don’t laugh! How did I miss this? I never had a school nurse in rural WV. I assumed it as a city thing. My daughter informs me that she never heard of a school without a nurse. This came up because my graceful child sliced her finger on an exacto knife while setting up her classroom. It looked like a crime scene. She’s their first workman’s comp incident this year. School is virtual until at least January, but teachers can work some days from their rooms. It’s a good thing the nurse was working on-site today!

 

ETA: I have an elementary ed degree. 🤣

I grew up in the county you live in. We had fulltime nurses in the 70s and 80s. 

[bolt.]

I don't want to speak for all of Canada -- but nurses have never been in schools in my area, in my memory.

I think it would be redundant: if a child needs medical care (beyond first aid) they would just be sent to a clinic or a hospital. Either a parent would come and take them, or, if needed, an ambulance would be called.

I think this is because of universal healthcare. There isn't a sense that children need health services through a school to ensure accessibility of care because all children have normal everyday access to all the healthcare they might ever need.

(We do have public health nurses for immunizations that are sometimes offered through schools.)

[prairiewindmomma]

@bolt.—how do they handle high medical needs children? I am talking of children who need to be tube fed, have iv medications administered, or have suction given to preserve airways during the school day. This is part of their daily life. In earlier decades, they likely would’ve been in a children’s nursing home rather than in a school.

[Loowit]

Just now, prairiewindmomma said:

@bolt.—how do they handle high medical needs children? I am talking of children who need to be tube fed, have iv medications administered, or have suction given to preserve airways during the school day. This is part of their daily life. In earlier decades, they likely would’ve been in a children’s nursing home rather than in a school.

My cousin who had needs like that had a one on one aid that was trained for those things.   If things came up like his feeding tube came out they called his mom or if she wasn't available the EMS.  The fire department and aid crew were across the street from the school, though it was all volunteer.  This was back in the 80s.

[bolt.]

13 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

@bolt.—how do they handle high medical needs children? I am talking of children who need to be tube fed, have iv medications administered, or have suction given to preserve airways during the school day. This is part of their daily life. In earlier decades, they likely would’ve been in a children’s nursing home rather than in a school.

I think those kids would have an aide, or they would be at a designated school equipped for their needs.

[QueenCat]

First Aid is just a part of what school nurses do. School nurses aren't giving physicals, diagnosing illnesses, etc. They don't replace the doctor's office. There have always been several kids in the schools I've worked in that got daily medication or are diabetic & get their blood sugar levels checked 1-2 times at school. They care for sick children while waiting for the parents to pick them up as well. 

[Guest]

55 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

I am curious, are the kids allowed to carry their own regular meds throughout the day?  Such as say, ADHD meds, epi pens, or maybe NSAIDS if they get a headache or something?

Usually not. There are sometimes excemptions for epipens and inhalers, but everything else is under lock and key. Taking meds, even a Tylenol, during school is often a violation. Giving your friend one because she has cramps or a headache can lead to being disciplined for distributing drugs.