Is the person sitting inside the Nurse’s Office at your child’s school actually a trained nurse? Or, is this person a playground monitor who is filling in for the nurse on the days when she is not going to be in your child’s school building? The answer to that question could directly impact your child’s health, and could lead to a seriously scary medical emergency.
Parents of children who have special needs are acutely aware of the medications that their child is required to take on a daily basis. Kids that have ADHD, or an autism spectrum disorder, or a variety of other types of special needs, usually end up going to the Nurse’s Office at some point during the day, in order to receive their next dose of medication. The Nurse’s Office is where allergy medication, epi-pens, and asthma inhalers are stored.
You might assume that the school nurse will always be in her office, ready to dispense the correct amount of medication to your child. Parents tend to assume that if their child has an asthma attack, or an allergy attack, that the nurse, with her knowledge, education, and medical background, will be able to save your child’s life when a medical emergency happens.
For the most part, this would be a true assumption. But, it is only true on the days that the school nurse happens to be in the building. The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) notes that only 45% of the public schools in America have a full time on-site nurse. When the nurse is not on site, there could be a secretary, or a lunchroom monitor, or no one at all, sitting in the Nurse’s Office. 25% of public schools do not have a school nurse at all.
In other words, your child could be relying on a person who has absolutely no medical training whatsoever. This can lead to some dangerous situations. How can you be certain that a non-nurse will remember to call your child to the office for his medication?
Are you sure that person will know how much medication to give your child? If your child has an serious asthma attack or allergic reaction, will the lunchroom monitor know how to administer an epi-pen, or where your child’s inhaler is located? If your child has a seizure will the “nurse” know what to do?
Most schools are not going to announce that they don’t have a nurse on the premises at all times. Parents are going to have to speak with an administrator and specifically ask about it. Or, a parent could walk into the Nurse’s Office one day, and ask whomever is sitting in there whether or not he or she has any medical training.
One would think that having a school nurse would be a top priority. Unfortunately, that simply isn’t the case. It isn’t due to lack of qualified people who would like to do that job. It has to do with how schools are funded. Public school districts get their funding based on how well their students do on standardized tests. When budgets are tight, schools start cutting things that they are not required by law to have. Few states require schools to have a certified nurse in the building.
Image by Johannes Gilger on Flickr