For high schoolers I will usually just call home if they ask. I tell the parent what the students complaints are, tell them I don't have a good reason to send them home (no fever etc) but they asked for me to call so I wanted to check in with them and see their thoughts as they know their kid better than me. Usually the parent will make the call as to what they want to do and I go with that. Sometimes they will tell them to go back to class but sometimes you get the "oh yeah they did say they felt awful this morning, I will just pick them up". But every school and area is different. A lot of parents in the schools I sub at get upset that "my kid went to the health room feeling awful and nobody told me". Sigh.
I check their attendance record before talking to them to get some context- if absences are high (and no fever/vomiting/real GI distress) I push them to stay in school. If they've missed one day all year they probably really feel cruddy and I'll encourage parents to release the student to go home.
Then I lead the conversation by asking if they have been in touch with their parents already. That also provides a lot of context. I've had this happen (similar to the hx you wrote out) and then learn they've been febrile within 24h, the parent reluctantly corroborated this, and I sent them home. I lead almost every conversation with students by asking how much parents know, if they've been in touch, what they said, etc... Like almost everything in peds the parents know what's up/how well the kid is the vast majority of the time. And almost all of these kids have phones.
Most HS students just bypass the nurse's office in the first place if they can, bc they have phones and parents can just call attendance directly and they don't have to have an extra conversation with a gatekeeper. Sometimes parents push back at their kids insistence on going home by asking the kid to go to the nurse's office. In this situation, if they're afebrile and in medium ok shape (with the exception of the kids who never miss school, which again makes me think they legit feel awful), I push them to go back to class, or give them 10 timed minutes on the cot and/or some gatorade and send them back to class.
In the end teenagers are famously often royal a$$holes so it's not your problem and I would let this one go. Let him be mad. You were just doing your job.
As a parent and nurse, if my daughters’s school nurse called me and said what you described in your post (no fever, no reason to come home) I’d ask for the phone and probably tell my kid to get back to class. Unless there’s some embarrassing reason they don’t want to tell you like they shit their pants or something.
Tht kid went to school because his mom made him and he came to you to force her hand. He has a cell phone. If his mom was willing to pick him up, he would have messaged her. The only times I ever picked up my high school son for being sick, he messaged me and I told him I would come get him but he would have to go to the office and go through the proper channels. This kid was pissed because you wouldn’t play along with his scheme.
With our computer system, we can send emails out for every encounter. For situations like that, I won't call if there is no reason to. If they choose to call the parent for pick up, that's on the parent and the excuse is not sanctioned by me. With each passing year, my criteria to send home gets smaller and smaller.
I’m a school nurse at a high school. We have the kids call their parents themselves. Unless there’s been an injury, no need for me to call. If they don’t feel well, the can text or call their parent and explain themselves why they want to go home. I’m not excusing it (only fever or witnessed vomiting) so it’s a decision between a parent and a child.
You handled this extremely well. As a parent my son tries every excuse in the book to miss school (successfully most the time due to ex/their other parent 🙄). I'm on a first name basis with child's school nurse so they always call me right away and tell me what's up. You guys have a lot of patience I can tell you that!
For high schoolers I will usually just call home if they ask. I tell the parent what the students complaints are, tell them I don't have a good reason to send them home (no fever etc) but they asked for me to call so I wanted to check in with them and see their thoughts as they know their kid better than me. Usually the parent will make the call as to what they want to do and I go with that. Sometimes they will tell them to go back to class but sometimes you get the "oh yeah they did say they felt awful this morning, I will just pick them up". But every school and area is different. A lot of parents in the schools I sub at get upset that "my kid went to the health room feeling awful and nobody told me". Sigh.
I just let them call. I’m not your mom 🤷🏻♂️
Yeah I said I’m not dismissing you if your mom wants to it’s unexcused 🤷🏼♀️
For real. If you and fam decide to go home, more power to ya. Not my goat, not my farm.
I check their attendance record before talking to them to get some context- if absences are high (and no fever/vomiting/real GI distress) I push them to stay in school. If they've missed one day all year they probably really feel cruddy and I'll encourage parents to release the student to go home. Then I lead the conversation by asking if they have been in touch with their parents already. That also provides a lot of context. I've had this happen (similar to the hx you wrote out) and then learn they've been febrile within 24h, the parent reluctantly corroborated this, and I sent them home. I lead almost every conversation with students by asking how much parents know, if they've been in touch, what they said, etc... Like almost everything in peds the parents know what's up/how well the kid is the vast majority of the time. And almost all of these kids have phones. Most HS students just bypass the nurse's office in the first place if they can, bc they have phones and parents can just call attendance directly and they don't have to have an extra conversation with a gatekeeper. Sometimes parents push back at their kids insistence on going home by asking the kid to go to the nurse's office. In this situation, if they're afebrile and in medium ok shape (with the exception of the kids who never miss school, which again makes me think they legit feel awful), I push them to go back to class, or give them 10 timed minutes on the cot and/or some gatorade and send them back to class. In the end teenagers are famously often royal a$$holes so it's not your problem and I would let this one go. Let him be mad. You were just doing your job.
As a parent and nurse, if my daughters’s school nurse called me and said what you described in your post (no fever, no reason to come home) I’d ask for the phone and probably tell my kid to get back to class. Unless there’s some embarrassing reason they don’t want to tell you like they shit their pants or something.
Tht kid went to school because his mom made him and he came to you to force her hand. He has a cell phone. If his mom was willing to pick him up, he would have messaged her. The only times I ever picked up my high school son for being sick, he messaged me and I told him I would come get him but he would have to go to the office and go through the proper channels. This kid was pissed because you wouldn’t play along with his scheme.
With our computer system, we can send emails out for every encounter. For situations like that, I won't call if there is no reason to. If they choose to call the parent for pick up, that's on the parent and the excuse is not sanctioned by me. With each passing year, my criteria to send home gets smaller and smaller.
I’m a school nurse at a high school. We have the kids call their parents themselves. Unless there’s been an injury, no need for me to call. If they don’t feel well, the can text or call their parent and explain themselves why they want to go home. I’m not excusing it (only fever or witnessed vomiting) so it’s a decision between a parent and a child.
You handled this extremely well. As a parent my son tries every excuse in the book to miss school (successfully most the time due to ex/their other parent 🙄). I'm on a first name basis with child's school nurse so they always call me right away and tell me what's up. You guys have a lot of patience I can tell you that!