My 6yo came home from school with a goose egg on his head, no note or call. WWYD?

[Missy1961]

Omg. It's a boy!!! This generation should be wrapped in bubble wrap & protected by fairy dust. A head bump is just a boy thing. If called a nurse or emt's every time it would be ridiculous. People kids are rough get over it.

I don't think they needed to rush him to the hospital but they certainly could have called home to alert his parents. A few years ago, I was watching my nieces while their parents went out of town, and one of them hit her head while playing. The nurse called to alert the parents (well, guardian) so I could make sure she was okay. I don't think that's an overreaction.

 

[AddictedtoDoleWhip]

Omg. It's a boy!!! This generation should be wrapped in bubble wrap & protected by fairy dust. A head bump is just a boy thing. If called a nurse or emt's every time it would be ridiculous. People kids are rough get over it.

Head injuries are serious. There have been cases where people are like "oh i hit my head" and later on they've ended up dying like Natasha Richardson. Its better safe than sorry when it comes to that.

 

[kmb584]

Any time a child hits their head at my daughter's school, the school nurse calls their parents/guardians. I got two of those calls last year after my daughter fell off of a swing.

 

[indimom]

Omg call the er,!!!! Look,sometimes boys are just boys

You seem to think people are overreacting to expect a phone call or note home?

I'm sure everyone here who has children is aware that kids bump their heads on a fairly regular basis.
I'm sure everyone here who has children has seen a head bump that looked HORRIBLE. Sometimes they swell up into HUGE alien lumps.
And I'm sure they are all aware that 99.9% of the time, even the really ugly looking bumps, it's nothing more than a bump.
No one has said otherwise. No one said the teacher/nurse should be fired or even lectured. And no one said the child should have been taken to the ER or anything of that sort.

BUT,
Children have died from a bump to the head. There is no way to know at first glance if it's "just a bump" or could progress to something worse. Some bumps are hidden under the child's hair. Parents should be informed that an accident happened so that they can monitor their child for any changes that might indicate that 'something worse.' Letting parents know an accident happened is not overkill, it's common sense.

It's better for the kid, better for the parents, better for the school. Win-win-win.

 

[2Kds2K9]

Our elementary school nurse was eventually fired for this. In fact, my DDs incident was pretty much the last straw. In 6th grade, DD was playing basketball at recess towards the end of the day. She fell and a larger boy fell on top of her head. When she came home, she briefly mentioned what happened and said she had a headache. Bottom line, two days later, it was discovered she had a skull fracture. She went to the school nurse when it happened, but the nurse did not call home to alert me. In our county it is required that the parent be notified when there is ANY type of head injury.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

I noticed everyone is talking about school nurses. Is it common to have school nurses in the States? I teach in Toronto and I don't think there have been any school nurses employed by our Board since the mid 70's. We deal with all injuries ourselves.

Our school here in rural Michigan does not have a nurse. It does seem like everyone assumes all schools have them.

I could easily see the school not calling if the bump didn't show up until later, and the teacher didn't see the accident happen. I would definitely want to bring it to the teachers attention though.

 

[Dawnlight]

Omg. It's a boy!!! This generation should be wrapped in bubble wrap & protected by fairy dust. A head bump is just a boy thing. If called a nurse or emt's every time it would be ridiculous. People kids are rough get over it.

1) It's not only a boy thing; it's a child thing as girls get bumps too (one of my girls was a prime example with a huge bump to her forehead this summer). 2) As a parent of a child who has had a concussion from a school (PE) activity, I think it's prudent for the school to notify parents. One for the sake of the child, two for the sake of the parent, and three for the sake of CYA for the school system (and taxpayers) lest something go very wrong if there's an unreported, serious injury.

Our school here in rural Michigan does not have a nurse. It does seem like everyone assumes all schools have them.

I could easily see the school not calling if the bump didn't show up until later, and the teacher didn't see the accident happen. I would definitely want to bring it to the teachers attention though.

I think it's actually more serious if there isn't a bump when it comes to head injuries. I know how awful they can look, those purple-blue goose eggs, but it's better to have the swelling externally than internally. If the teacher or recess attendant was aware of an injury to the head, bump or no bump, it should be reported.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I wouldn't expect a call if the injury was mild enough that he wasn't sent to see the nurse.

OTOH, this might be one of those times he should have seen the nurse. Sooooo....

 

[HM]

Our elementary school doesn't have a school nurse on site. They visit a few hours each week.
OP, do they have a nurse at your son's school full-time?

 

[brooke789]

We had a problem with this last year when my two were in 4-k. It was a private school (3-k -6th grade). They did not have a school nurse. On more than one occasion my accident prone daughter was hurt. Only one time was I notified and that was not ahead of time, I was told at pick up.

This year they're in public K. My son was hurt during after school care. We did not get a phone call, but turns out they couldn't get his name out of him. I think he was just scared not that he didn't know who he was...but DH arrived to pick up while he was in the office and they had given him an ice pack. This incident most concerned me that not a single person there knew my sons name?!

 

[RitaE]

Um, in my experience broken arms and large gashes on the knees and elbows are "boy things" too but that doesn't mean they don't need medical treatment. Oh, sorry about that broken arm kid but you are a boy. Now get yourself to Math class.

 

[Mkrop]

I am a recess monitor at our school, we are a Catholic school and have a FT nurse 5 days a week. I see many head bumps, many I dont see but if the kid is on the ground, I ask if they hit their head and I either walk them to the nurse myself or send them into the school with a buddy to get them to the nurse. I take hitting the head very seriously and I have had boys and girls hit their heads.

 

[Meeko5]

Thanks all for your helpful and non snarky responses

I messaged his teacher asking her to keep an eye on him today and let me know if anything seems off after a hit that hard on his head - she responded that she didn't know he hit his head, apologized, and said she will absolutely let me know how he's doing today. My son said a friend went and got her after it happened, so now I'm extra confused. Either my kid is confused (possible he mistook her for an aide, or another teacher I suppose), or the teacher is not being honest. Sigh.

 

[phamton]

I am so sorry for your child. One time in my teaching career, I was walking my first grade class back from PE. I was at the front of the line and a child was talking to me as I led the group on the sidewalk and back to class. Then I heard a child crying at the back of the line. I didn't see what happened but he said he tripped and fell. He was rubbing his elbow which I looked at and it seemed fine. He said he was OK and we continued back to class. School ended 30 minutes later and I sent the class home, never giving it another thought. My principal called me into the office and ask if I knew that Johnny fell yesterday. I said, "yes" and then I explained. The principal then told me Johnny hit his head and his parents took him to the ER that night with bad headache. He was diagnosed with a concussion. I felt terrible. I hadn't seen him fall and didn't even realize that he had hit his head. There were no noticeable bumps or bruises. The only thing he had complained about was hitting his funny bone/elbow.

Since your child's teacher didn't see the accident, maybe she didn't realize how hard he hit. If the child wasn't complaining much about pain and the bump wasn't there yet, she may have just not realized he was hurt.

 

[Heidict]

Omg. It's a boy!!! This generation should be wrapped in bubble wrap & protected by fairy dust. A head bump is just a boy thing. If called a nurse or emt's every time it would be ridiculous. People kids are rough get over it.

I really hope you don't work in the medical field. They had a young boy in our school district who took a good hit to the head. They did nothing. No call or note home.

Thankfully, he told his father about it and his father took him to the ER. Acute subdural hematoma. He could have died if he did not get medical treatment. But what does that matter, after all.........it was just a bump on the head.

My daughter.........that's right, a girl...........tripped and slammed her head into a wall in gym class. I got the call from that school that there had been a "minor indecent" and that they were taking her to the ER via ambulance. She was given the all clear after the CT scan, but had a bad concussion and a forehead laceration. I am grateful that the staff and nurse at her school that took her head bump seriously and got her medical treatment instead of blowing it off.

Should they be rushed off to the ER for every bump? No, of course not. However, the parents should ALWAYS be notified.

 

[cabanafrau]

I know of no school nurses in the public school districts in metro Detroit. Actually I'm unaware of any in the private schools either, but there are plenty of those I have zero familiarity with.

 

[indimom]

I know of no school nurses in the public school districts in metro Detroit. Actually I'm unaware of any in the private schools either, but there are plenty of those I have zero familiarity with.

You know, this thread was the first time I had ever heard of schools without a nurse on staff.

And you're comment just got me thinking...

Perhaps the schools which have on-site nurses are in more rural areas?

I know of schools in our area which are at least 30 minutes from the nearest small, community hospital.
Since it could be some time before an ambulance arrives, and even longer before they arrive at a hospital for treatment (and in a serious accident they may require transport to a larger hospital further away - we don't have brain surgeons here), it makes sense to have a nurse on staff.
Whereas a school in a major metro area would have much quicker response times and may not require a nurse on site?


(But, as far as the subject of this thread goes, whether there is a nurse at the school or not, I still think parents should be informed of any potential head injury. )

 

[Dawnlight]

I know of no school nurses in the public school districts in metro Detroit. Actually I'm unaware of any in the private schools either, but there are plenty of those I have zero familiarity with.

Interesting. I would think in larger cities that there would be more of a chance of having a full-time school nurse.

My kids have gone to private and public in the Greater Boston area; all schools elementary, middle, and high (both private and public) have had nurses on staff.

How do schools deal with medications that need to be distributed during the day to students? Do teachers handle that?

 

[msjprincess]

I live on LI and went to school in NYC. All of the schools have/had full time nurses on staff.

 

[RitaE]

There are a few campuses in our District that are fairly small such as the K-4 Magnet School, the Pre-school program etc. Those buildings don't have a permanent nurse assigned but there is an employee that rotates between those campuses. The nurse at the High School I think is theoretically in charge of the District Health program and I believe she has an advanced diploma, like she's a APN or something similar. The larger buildings have a regular nurse there all the time. I'm pretty sure the one at my son's school isn't an RN, maybe she's an LPN?