DD was sent to the hospital from school via ambulance without our knowledge

[rie'smom]

If this was my daughter and I was not in town, I'd want the ambulance called first, then they can call my cell.

 

[allison443]

This is what I was referring to. Off to bed, nite!

Yeah, but here OP is referring to her MIL and FIL, not the OP's parents. The MIL and FIL live locally to the high school, it is OP's parents who live in Florida. The MIL and FIL were called by the non-injured dd and the FIL ended up going to the hospital to meet the ambulance. The OP's parents were never called because the nurse was informed they have moved to Florida.
It got kind of confusing!

 

[allison443]

OP I agree the school had a responsibility to contact you, but I'm curious why your dds didn't call you or text you right away as soon as they knew that the dd who fainted was going to the hospital. Do they have cell phones? Maybe they didn't think it was serious or didn't want to worry you? I would have expected my dds to contact me right away, even though the school didn't. That doesn't mean the school shouldn't have also, though.

 

[MELSMICE]

I'll have to check later because I am on my way to bed, but I believe the OP said it was her parents in Florida who contacted here about everything. Someone called the parents in Florida, but it wasn't the school (maybe the sister).

I appreciate your posts - I'm really not trying to bash the school or the nurse, just relaying an event.

Nurse contacted my sister to pick DD up after first saying she would contact my parents. DD informed nurse parents now reside in Florida.

DD's twin sister is pulled from class & goes to nurse. Calls my in-laws. My in-laws then called my DH.

When I did speak with the nurse DD was on her way to the hospital. The first woman I spoke with in the office did seem aware of the situation.

As far as why your sister was told to come and then they called the ambulance---maybe they called your sister before the response team at school came to look at your DD. After they came, it was decided to err on the side of caution.

Maybe the nurse asked the teacher or another staff member to call you and she had no idea they hadn't. Or maybe she was told by a family member that they would inform you, since you were out of town? Who was her guardian while you were away, and did you let the school know you were out of town and who to contact in case of emergency?

On a side note, I would want to look into the passing out more if this is the third time. If the dr. says it is low blood sugar, has your DD had a glucose tolerance test? Are they guessing it is low blood sugar? I would just want to knoe FOR SURE what is going on. She could fall sometime and hit her head and if noone was around, it could be very serious.

Marsha

They must have called my sister before the response team was called, then decided it was best to call the paramedics.

She did get a glucose tolerance test while at the hospital. If I heard the information correctly, she received one on arrival at the hospital & another before discharge. (could that be correct?) Her levels, while a bit low, are within the normal range.

If this was my daughter and I was not in town, I'd want the ambulance called first, then they can call my cell.

This is the way I believe it should have been.

It really seemed like a comedy of errors on the part of phone calls. DH & I were in our room - calls were coming in to our cell phones from family members, I was trying to make calls out to make arrangements for DD & find out what was going on.

It would have been a lot less confusing if someone from the school would have contacted us to relay the information that she was on her way to the hospital & they were calling the person on our contact form to meet her there.

I agree with N.Bailey - there is more than one person at the school that could have made calls at the same time.

Bottom line, DD is OK. She will see her primary for a follow-up.

 

[torinsmom]

She did get a glucose tolerance test while at the hospital. If I heard the information correctly, she received one on arrival at the hospital & another before discharge. (could that be correct?) Her levels, while a bit low, are within the normal range.

.

She probably had her glucose level checked. A glucose tolerance test is a test that takes several hours, from what I understand. They measure your glucose level in a fasting state(which I doubt your daughter was in if she had had breakfast lunch, or anything besides water) and then they have you drink a really sugary type drink. They take your glucose at certain intervals of time after the drink is consumed. The results will tell them whether the sugar jumps way up or way down in a way that is not normal.

If the doctor says the fainting is from low blood sugar, but the levels are normal when they check, are they just guessing? I would worry it could be something more serious, related to the heart or another organ system. I had a doctor guess on me and tell me I had nothing to worry about, but when I pursued it, it was discovered that I needed brain surgery! Not trying to scare you, but I would pursue it more aggressively if this is a continuing occurence.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If the doctor says the fainting is from low blood sugar, but the levels are normal when they check, are they just guessing? I would worry it could be something more serious, related to the heart or another organ system. I had a doctor guess on me and tell me I had nothing to worry about, but when I pursued it, it was discovered that I needed brain surgery! Not trying to scare you, but I would pursue it more aggressively if this is a continuing occurence.

Agree 100%.

My sister just got devastating news about her MIL yesterday. They found the source of her "digestive problems", she has ovarian cancer that is in advanced stages. Ovarian cancer mimics disgestive problems and there is no real effective test to diagnose it before it is advanced.

If your dd is fainting you need a concrete diagnosis.

My youngest also faints however she had has EEG, MRI, and and ECHO to find her source. She does have a heart murmur however it is nothing they can see on the ECHO.

Her diagnosis is vasovagal syncope.

 

[justhat]

When I was a freshman in high school (which, granted, was 14 years ago), I had a concussion and had to be taken to the hospital via ambulance. They did 'try' to call my mom, but she was out of state like you, so they sent me off before they could contact her as well. They did eventually get my grandmother or uncle, and it seems like your kid's school did call your sister so same idea.

I'm guessing once they called your sister and got her, they figured the message would be relayed and they could call you after they made sure your daughter was sent to the hospital and such?

 

[mtomlin66]

I appreciate your posts - I'm really not trying to bash the school or the nurse, just relaying an event.

Nurse contacted my sister to pick DD up after first saying she would contact my parents. DD informed nurse parents now reside in Florida.

DD's twin sister is pulled from class & goes to nurse. Calls my in-laws. My in-laws then called my DH.

When I did speak with the nurse DD was on her way to the hospital. The first woman I spoke with in the office did seem aware of the situation.


They must have called my sister before the response team was called, then decided it was best to call the paramedics.

She did get a glucose tolerance test while at the hospital. If I heard the information correctly, she received one on arrival at the hospital & another before discharge. (could that be correct?) Her levels, while a bit low, are within the normal range.


This is the way I believe it should have been.

It really seemed like a comedy of errors on the part of phone calls. DH & I were in our room - calls were coming in to our cell phones from family members, I was trying to make calls out to make arrangements for DD & find out what was going on.

It would have been a lot less confusing if someone from the school would have contacted us to relay the information that she was on her way to the hospital & they were calling the person on our contact form to meet her there.

I agree with N.Bailey - there is more than one person at the school that could have made calls at the same time.

Bottom line, DD is OK. She will see her primary for a follow-up.

Based on what you wrote, it sounds as if DD was one her way to the hospital at the time you reached the school nurse. If that is true, I would say that the nurse probably intended to follow up with you soon. Until your DD left the school, the nurse's primary responsibility would have been to remain with her and monitor her health. Once your DD left the school, then the nurse would deal with all of her other responsibilitites - including any other students who might have been waiting to see her. Yes, it would have been nice if someone else at the school had thought to make additional phone calls - but hindsight is always 20/20.

 

[MELSMICE]

The Dr. in the ER said they did a test when she came in to check her blood sugar levels & also before she was released. She also had an EKG & additional cardio tests. She has an appointment to see her primary on Tuesday.

She does have a heart murmur & has had an ECHO for this previously. She has also had blood tests in the past when she has fainted before, ordered by her primary.

I will definitely be asking a lot of questions when she's goes in on Tuesday.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

I believe the nurse did the right thing. I pray her tests turn out ok.

 

[crazee4mickey]

Another one here who thinks the nurse reacted correcty considering the info she had before her---parents out of state, emergency contacts moved, she'd fainted before....the forms for the school were filled out freshman year and they are seniors, does the school not send them home at the beginning of each year to be updated? Just asking because that is a major form which must be updated at our school within the first week of the new year.
Hope your DD feels better and they find out the cause soon

 

[ProgressCity]

The school should have contacted you, as a parent you do have to consent to any treatment given to your minor children. IMHO, the nurse should have spent the rest of the day (after calling the ambulance) tracking you down. It seems from your post that she was acting like since you were out of town you wouldn't care about what's going on at home?

What's worrisome to me about this is that the nurse didn't follow the appropriate emergency form, what if your kid had been allergic to Penicillin or something else and that was just ignored, overlooked, or not even found because she was looking at an outdated form?

 

[PaulaSB12]

The school should have contacted you, as a parent you do have to consent to any treatment given to your minor children. IMHO, the nurse should have spent the rest of the day (after calling the ambulance) tracking you down. It seems from your post that she was acting like since you were out of town you wouldn't care about what's going on at home?

What's worrisome to me about this is that the nurse didn't follow the appropriate emergency form, what if your kid had been allergic to Penicillin or something else and that was just ignored, overlooked, or not even found because she was looking at an outdated form?

What about any other pupils having medical problems while she spent the rest of the day contacting her parents? If she had problems like penicillin she should wear a medical emergency braclet with that info on it.

 

[ProgressCity]

What about any other pupils having medical problems while she spent the rest of the day contacting her parents? If she had problems like penicillin she should wear a medical emergency braclet with that info on it.

Yes, if there are other sick students she should help them, but this is a high school, do you really think every minute of the rest of her day was spent treating kids? If she called an ambulance she obviously thought there was a chance something serious was wrong so it should be a priority to notify a parent so that the parent can give the hospital their consent to treat the child. Unless it's an emergency situation (life or death) the hospital can't do anything without the parent's consent so the help this nurse was providing was very limited.

If after calling the ambulance a kid came in with seizures, then yes the nurse should help the kid. But if the next kid just came in with a headache, (which is more realistic) then she can give them some Tylenol while she tries to contact the parents.

I went to a high school where my graduating class had over 1,000 students. The few times I went to the nurse's office I was the only student there. One time I was there for half a day and only saw a couple of kids come in to take their medication. So if in a high school of over 3,000 kids the nurse's office is that slow, I have a hard time believing this nurse was just so overwhelmed with sickly children that she couldn't make an effort to contact the OP.

 

[bumbershoot]

....the forms for the school were filled out freshman year and they are seniors, does the school not send them home at the beginning of each year to be updated? Just asking because that is a major form which must be updated at our school within the first week of the new year.

The OP has stated that they had filled senior forms out, but the nurse went back to the frosh forms.



You know, regardless of ambulance being called for being "out" for maybe 30 seconds, this whole school thing just sounds unsafe and rather stupid to me.

You guys are listed first. You have a home and cell numbers. They should call ALL of them, leaving messages. Being out of town doesn't mean you're in Upper Mongolia. You can be reached. This isn't the early 80s before cellphones were all over and for the uber-wealthy. They should have called each of your numbers before calling any other numbers on that form.

Only after calling those numbers, then they move on to the next on the list. The proper list. Not the old list.

If a 17 year old doesn't have the right to say no to medical treatment (how on earth would I have done anything since I was all the way across the country when I was 17 and went off to college????), then a 17 year old twin shouldn't be given the responsibility to contact parents. So IF the nurse was indeed expecting that her comedy of errors of using old forms to contact people meant that the twin would be contacting you, then that's wrong too.


And all of that has nothing to do with the nurse deciding to call 911 when they'd never done that before.

I mean, the girl passed out in class. For maybe 30 seconds. The teacher verified this. So the teacher calls? sends the girl to? the nurse. The nurse calls the OP's sister then has what, to me, the school cynic, seems like a strong case of CYA-itis, and calls 911.

Sounds like there are other issues in the OP's daughter's health, but it doesn't seem like the school knows about them, so IMO it's just odd that 911 was called, since no one seems to be saying that she worsened after (I assume) she got ot the nurse's office.


So I'm not saying that there was no good reason in the end for the ambulance ride...but the logic behind the call just isn't there, and the protocol was absolutely BOTCHED.




And the final thing will be, if the OP's city is like mine, the big fat bill from the ambulance company. And the OP wasn't even there to snag the blanket that they probably covered her with and would throw away, like I did, when we had our $700* ambulance ride for DS. Best, most expensive, blanket ever!


*to be honest insurance covered most of it. but the ambulance company was THE WORST to deal with. billed insurance first (before insurance saw there was a bonafide reason for the transport), billed US last. offered a discount, then took it back, and we spent the next 6 months or so getting collections letters while the reps from rural/metro tried to find the records to see why the discount was offered and why it was rescinded then would go on vacation and lock up their files so no one else could see them...oh it was just cruddy. It's really too bad my area charges for ambulance rides...because I really really really hate rural/metro ambulance company.

 

[honugirl]

If you think the fainting is from low blood sugar, it would probably be good for her to carry juice boxes around with her. The sugar in the juice gets into the blood stream extremely fast to raise it and also get some glucose tabs. You can also get a blood sugar meter from your doc or buy one, they're cheap, it's the test strips that aren't... Most come with 10 or so trial strips. This would let her see if there is a pattern developing so you can show the doctor. good luck.

I think the school did the right thing by calling the ambulance first and calling you later.

 

[N.Bailey]

If you think the fainting is from low blood sugar, it would probably be good for her to carry juice boxes around with her. The sugar in the juice gets into the blood stream extremely fast to raise it and also get some glucose tabs. You can also get a blood sugar meter from your doc or buy one, they're cheap, it's the test strips that aren't... Most come with 10 or so trial strips. This would let her see if there is a pattern developing so you can show the doctor. good luck.

I think the school did the right thing by calling the ambulance first and calling you later.

That's the problem the school never contacted her at all and the OP has gone out of her way to explain that she expected the school to call for the ambulance before calling her. She simply expected to be called first before her other contacts were notified, and at that, the school was using an emergency card that was 3 years outdated because the school never updated their records with the new information provided in the sophomore year, the junior year, or the senior year.

 

[torinsmom]

Well, it does sound like they used the new info at some point. Didn't the OP say her sister was on the new one? Maybe they couldn't get anyone, so they moved on to an old card. I have had to do that before when parents are not answering their home/work/cell phones. It is very scary to have a sick or injured child and have noone available. As a teacher, if I knew the parents were out of the state, I would call someone who could respond immediately first.

Yes, someone should have called the parents, but maybe the nurse was waiting to hear back from the hospital. All they had to tell OP was that her DD had been sent to the hospital by ambulance. I'm sure she knew the grandparents, aunt and sister would be in touch with them to tell them that much.

 

[MELSMICE]

Another one here who thinks the nurse reacted correcty considering the info she had before her---parents out of state, emergency contacts moved, she'd fainted before....the forms for the school were filled out freshman year and they are seniors, does the school not send them home at the beginning of each year to be updated? Just asking because that is a major form which must be updated at our school within the first week of the new year.
Hope your DD feels better and they find out the cause soon

The forms are updated yearly. I sent in the updated senior forms at the beginning of this school year.

DD has what I consider some minor health issues. She has asthma, allergies & an innocent heart murmur. Maybe I'm too laid back about them. I really like all her doctors. She sees her primary regularly & her asthma 2X a year. Like I said, she has had an ECHO in the past, an EKG in the past & at the hospital last week. She also had an upper GI a few years ago.

She will be seeing her primary on Tuesday & I'll explain everything that happened. I would imagine that he is going to send her for some blood work. I will ask about the glucose test that someone mentioned. She has always gone to the Dr. after each fainting episode.

The one thing that does concern me is that in the past she said she could feel herself feeling ill almost an hour prior to the episode. She knows she should have something to eat & will put her head down for a bit. In this case she said it came on quick - she felt a wave of nausea come over her & then she was down.

BTW - I have not received any bills yet, but I know they're coming.

 

[sbell111]

I've looked all around and I can't find anything to be outraged about.

There was a medical emergency that required the school to call an ambulance to have a student taken to the hospital. There was some confusion as to what adult was available to be informed. The 17 year old sister called and let her grandparents know what was going on.

I'm over it.