Nurse refuses student inhaler during asthma attack

[AnneD]

108. As a school nurse....

I am on the front line of public health care. I frequently go before our State Legislature to testify and change the poorly written laws.

I will not heap scorn on this poor Nurse as I have walked in those shoes before. I do not know what the laws in Florida are but I know I can't give medicine without a note from the doc AND a permission note from the parent, I don't care who the medication is for. If the child is a known asthmatic and the parent's sent the meds, they know they have to sign the permission note. If the child was 18 he is considered an adult and a case can be made in court for letting him have the inhaler and dosing himself. These laws are to protect children from medication errors, such as double dosing.

A 'known asthmatic'....I wish I had a nickel for every student that came into my clinic and said he had trouble breathing. When I look it up in the health records, there is nothing stating that the child had a history of asthma. I ask him and he says he does but the parent did not indicate it.

We lobbied and won passage for a law that allows kids to carry their own inhalers if they can demonstrate competency. Of course I tell the parents to still send me the paperwork and an extra inhaler because kid's leave them in their back back, yesterdays pant pocket, etc.

About 911. Yes, I would have called 911 when the parents don't respond in a timely manner. But I have worked in schools that are so top down in their management that the Nurse could not generate the 911 call, the principal had to. I did not stay at that school for long but suffice it to say I have had my butt chewed out for calling 911-but if I have my license, I came always get another Nursing job. If I lose it I am SOL.

I have begged and pleaded for parents to come up for their kids. They told me they were on the way and arrive 2 hours later. We frequently walk a tightrope between helicopter parents, student that think they are entitled, school administration that want you to do it all for free, district policy that has not advanced to the 20th century let alone the 21st, and our licensure laws. They have cut our numbers to dangerous levels all the while piling on more work.

This year we had 11 Nurses retire and we have 32 openings at the end of the year. I can retire this year and I am hanging on another year but I can tell you, I am reaching the end of my rope. If it wasn't for my fellow school nurse support group and our happy hour meetings, I would never have made it as long as I have.