AAAAAHHHH LICE!!!!

Lice…creepy…crawly…suck your blood critters who love to multiply in human hair! If that doesn’t give you the heebie jeebies, well….then….you must be a School Nurse! 

But it’s true. Lice tend to create a stir and panic among parents. They have a stigma of filth or poverty…but it just isn’t true. Lice can happen to anyone…yes, even the School Nurse. The good news is that Lice is rarely spread at school. Lice don’t “jump” or “fly” and can’t be caught by simply sitting next to another student in class. There needs to be head to head contact. Since lice are a common problem in school-aged children here is some information, tips and pointers:

What the school does:

Depending on the school, lice policies range from a “no nit” to “no lice policy”. A “no nit” policy means that any child found with nits, will be sent home; versus a “no lice” policy means that if a child is found with a live louse, they will be sent home. So, the big difference is this: with a “no lice” policy the child can have nits and remain in school. The good news is nits that are farther from 1cm from the scalp are not usually viable. So, as long as the child is retreated in 7-10 days, that would kill any stragglers. 

The school will also check entire classes if more than 2-3 children in the same class have a case of lice; but check your school’s policy.

What the parent should do:

DON’T panic! DON’T cause a panic! And PLEASE DON’T start making accusations like, “I know so-and-so gave my kid lice”. The truth is, you need to ask to see if any of the cousins who slept over the other night have been itchy, because that’s more likely. 

So what you should really do:

1. Check all family members. (If one of you has it, its likely someone else does too).

2. Speak with your pediatrician or pharmacist about lice treatments. There is no proof that olive oil, tea tree oil, lotions, mayonnaise, or vinegar will kill or get rid of lice. 

3. Once treating, follow the directions EXACTLY, to a TEE!

4. Wash clothing and bedding in hot water and dry on high heat. 

5. Anything that can’t be washed should be placed in a sealed, plastic bag for 2 weeks! (The live lice need to die, and the nits that hatch need to die!)

6. Vacuum carpets and furniture.

7. Boil combs, brushes, and hair bands for at least 5 minutes, or let them soak in rubbing alcohol or lysol for one hour.

8. Don’t forget to retreat in 7-10 days. Those eggs are going to hatch and you’ll have another flare up of the buggers. 

Originally published @ http://schoolnurselife.tumblr.com/post/79825412096/lice-creepy-crawly-suck-your-blood-critters-who on March 14, 2014

Non-Polio EnteroVirus Infections

Reference: National Association of School Nurses (Facebook)

"Health Alert
Enterovirus EV-D68 has been seen in increased numbers, including clusters in the states of Colorado, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Kentucky.

Symptoms to watch for:
• fever
• runny nose, sneezing, cough
• skin rash
• mouth blisters
• body and muscle aches

Children who become ill should be referred to their healthcare provider.
For additional information, click: http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/about/symptoms.html"

A Day in the life of your School Nurse

APP OF THE WEEK: Paper by 53

APP OF THE WEEK: Paper by FiftyThree

Name: Paper by FiftyThree

Cost: Free (for basic edition. Upgrades can be purchased for between $1.99-$6.99)

App market: iOS

Link to the itunes store app website: Paper by FiftyThree

Link to the App’s direct website: FiftyThree

            Let me just say first that I have no drawing ability or talent to speak of. However, with this app I have found that I can produce pictures that are distinguishable; meaning that you can actually tell what I’m trying to draw! The app is very user friendly and allows for the user to use many different art mediums on the iPad. You can choose to paint with watercolor, draw with colored pencil, use an ink pen, marker or fine tip marker. The app comes with some very basic features, and you can purchase the add-ons from $1.99-$6.99. I personally opted for the full bundle because I’ve found many uses for this app in both my job as a school nurse and as a soon to be nurse educator.

            

          As a grad student and soon to be nurse educator, I’ve used this app more than once to produce storyboard pictures for video projects. I’ve posted the storyboard for my “Howto give an EpiPen” video below, just to give you an idea. For the same project, I designed a drawing learning activity, which asked the participants to draw certain things about the lesson…for example: draw possible food triggers of anaphylaxis…or draw the signs & symptoms of anaphylaxis. This idea came from this article on drawing in problem based learning.

            

         As a school nurse I can see application for this app with children. Particularly, I see students coming to the health office for many different reasons…sometimes, it’s because they are diabetic and need to retest their glucose after treatment. They have to sit around for 15 minutes, so why not give them this app and ask them to draw how they feel when they are low? When they are done, you can print what they’ve drawn and have the teacher post it in the classroom so she knows what to look for in the student as a nice visual reminder.

Tell me what you think in the comments….

·      How do you think you could use this app in your job (explain…are you a teacher, nurse, parent?)

·      What did you find as the strong points of the app?

·      What did you find were the weaknesses of the app?

·      How often do you think you’d use this app?

APP OF THE WEEK: Max's Plate

So, as part of this blog I really want to introduce others to some of the apps that I come across and find useful or relevant to what I do as a school nurse or nurse educator. With that in mind, I’m going to present an “app of the week” along with some questionnaires to see how you liked the app. So, enjoy….

APP OF THE WEEK: Max's Plate

Name: Max’s Plate

Cost: Free

App market: iOS

Link to the itunes store app website: Max’s Plate

Summary:

            This app is great for elementary aged children who are learning food groups. The app presents the “My-plate” concept and shows a type of food and asks the player to sort the food into “fruit”, “grain”, “veggie”, “protein”, or “dairy”. I have personally found this app useful as a school nurse doing health education during health assessments. I like for the children to play the app with the kids and I have found that they really enjoy and catch on to the game quickly….and without even realizing it they are learning that broccoli is a vegetable, and bread is a grain! The downside of the app is that is doesn’t cover portions, and the food pictures themselves are sometimes a little difficult to discern (ex. is that a bread stick or string cheese?). Overall though, the app is great fun for kids and an awesome way to teach food groups with a short amount of time.

Tell me what you think in the comments….

1.     How do you think you could use this app in your job (explain…are you a teacher, nurse, parent?)

2.     What did you find as the strong points of the app?

3.     What did you find were the weaknesses of the app?

4.     How often do you think you’d use this app?

Welcome to The eNurse @ School blog, where my focus is to introduce ways to implement health technology in the K-12 Setting

Advanced research is often completed in order to ask or answer a question. When I was considering what problem I would like to solve I turned to my own practice and experience as a new school nurse. I wanted to do something that could bring something new to the more experienced nurses and initiate something unique. One of the biggest things that stood out to me was the lack of technological resources, specifically using our iPads. Our school district purchased iPads for all ten of the district nurses and it became very obvious that they are not being utilized to their fullest potential within our practice. Furthermore, there was no instruction given on what we could use them for…other then email, and note taking at meetings, the iPads seem to be hidden away somewhere in the abyss of our car trunks, or beneath the piles of paper scattered across our desks. With an abundance of apps and creative innovations, there is no reason that school nurses can’t get with technology and really learn how to utilize the iPad; not only to make our lives easier, but also to make our practice better.

Please check out my newly updated sections: 

About Me- Just a little biography on my journey to becoming a School Nurse.

Project- A sample project: a learning module about anaphylaxis (with video) and utilizing the Ipad with a drawing exercise using Paper53 or MySketchPaper iOS apps.