School wants us to sign a crazy medical release form..

[JoiseyMom]

a little back story on this.... my son gets eczema. He will get a break out if he has something that has one of his triggers. We are not sure exactly what the triggers are because it he might get a reaction from something one day and it never bothers him again.. ( we have an appointment with an allergist next month)

He had an a spot above his upper lip that looked like a pimple. The doctor saw it along with a couple other spots and told us to use his rx cream. a few days later it he managed to nick it when he was getting dressed. it was inflammed. I put the cream on it and sent him to school. the nurse called and wanted to know what it was. She was not quiet about letting me know that she did not think it was eczema and that she wanted him to get check out, she was being such a pain that I called the ped and they offered see him just to shut her up. they still said it was eczema but gave him a stronger cream.. and a note saying he was fine. unfortunately the new medicine they gave him caused it to heal too fast on the outside and trapped the bacteria which turned into an abscess and cellulitis. He was hospitalized because he needed IV meds for 4 days to get rid of the infection. The school nurse tried to tell me that if he needed the IV meds then he MUST have had MRSA and I was probably confused by the medical terminology. the only reason he had the IV meds is because the swelling in his face was affecting his breathing and they wanted to monitor it.

OP, I wouldn't sign. That nurse is a tad over zealous in my opinion. My kids school and camps know what meds they are on (asthma, adhd etc) and peds info. They know about allergies etc.. but full access to my kids medical records. Ummm...no freaking way. IF there is something they want to know specifically for a good reason, I can give them that info on a needed basis. They do not need full access to my kids records.

 

[Talking Hands]

#1 if my child has an emergency and they cannot reach me they are allowed to contact my child's doctor for a referral.

#2 i allow the school nurse to give ANY school personnel any medical information about my child, that she feels important.

#3 I give the school nurse permission to have unlimited access any of my childrens medical records (not limited to, information about appointments, referrals, physicals, lab results, immunization records, phone calls)

#1 I would sign
#2 I would sign after speaking with the principal about exactly who would receive the information.
As a substitute teacher I see this as allowing the school in me if needed about a child with diabetes, epilepsy or other medical condition that I needed to be aware of should an emergency occur. It can be a big problem when you are not informed.
An example is when I brought peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and did not know I would have a student in my last block with a severe allergy to peanuts. Fortunately he wasn't the first student to enter and I was able to send him to another room for the class with work sheets I did not touch (student took them and the pass and escorted the student to the other classroom handing the pass to the teacher so the student with the allergy never touched anything I had touched) If I had know I would have not eaten the sandwich and gotten something else in the school cafeteria or the culinary arts cafeteria.
#3 would not sign. Not the school's business. If a doctor's note is needed for an absence then it is up to me as a parent to provide it.

 

[sam_gordon]

#1 I would sign
#2 I would sign after speaking with the principal about exactly who would receive the information.
As a substitute teacher I see this as allowing the school in me if needed about a child with diabetes, epilepsy or other medical condition that I needed to be aware of should an emergency occur. It can be a big problem when you are not informed.
An example is when I brought peanut butter sandwiches for lunch and did not know I would have a student in my last block with a severe allergy to peanuts. Fortunately he wasn't the first student to enter and I was able to send him to another room for the class with work sheets I did not touch (student took them and the pass and escorted the student to the other classroom handing the pass to the teacher so the student with the allergy never touched anything I had touched) If I had know I would have not eaten the sandwich and gotten something else in the school cafeteria or the culinary arts cafeteria.
#3 would not sign. Not the school's business. If a doctor's note is needed for an absence then it is up to me as a parent to provide it.

I agree with your goal for #2, but the situation you presented would only have been prevented if the nurse had gotten all the records AND read over all them.

 

[luvsJack]

I'm ASSUMING if the hospital needed medical history information, since the school should have the name of the primary doctor, the hospital could call the doctors and get any information needed. Again, when's the last time you've heard of paramedics having medical records information?

I haven't had much dealings with paramedics, so I don't know that.

You do realize that not every child has a primary doctor?

 

[Lynne M]

I disagree this was unprofessional. Part of her job is to protect the school community at large from contagious or potentially contagious outbreaks. It is in her job description, school policy and the professional standard of practice for school nurses. Conversations can and should take place about these things.

Oh, I agree, absolutely. But the minute the nurse went from asking about the diagnosis to saying she needed to review his records because she thought he wasn't diagnosed and treated correctly, she went over the line. It was insulting to the parents, and insulting to the child's physician.

And saying that he must have had MRSA because he received IV antibiotics is just laughable. As if MRSA is the only organism that causes cellulitis....she must have been snoozing during microbiology class. Compounding it by saying that the mom must not have understood the medical terminology....I'm as mild-mannered as they come, but she'd be getting an earful from me at that point.

 

[tzolkin]

Several people have asked what's the big deal or what shouldn't the nurse know about. I can think of many things but the most private may be sexual abuse or genitalia issues. Certainly there are children in that school who have more information in their medical records than a few colds or ear infections. What about family history/info? That's in most children's records. Does the school really need access to that?

Just knowing some of the unprofessional things that were discussed in our school about students that really shouldn't have been I would be nervous about schools knowing more then they had to. Now for most people no I doubt they would have any problem telling anyone about anything in their medical records, but there will always be a child with some medical issue the parents and child don't want the entire school to know about. This will be more and more true the older the children are. I'm not sure if this is an elementary school or a high school but in high school especially I could see quite a few students having a medical issue that the child and parents may not want the school nurse to know about.

I think people are also assuming that the access to medical records is not going to lead to gossip and being second-guessed about your parenting, but in many communities there is really little expectation of privacy once someone at school (nurse/teachers/etc) hears about it. Especially in a situation like the OP was just discussing where it seems the school nurse would really enjoy getting unlimited access to students' medical information so she could make her own diagnoses and make parents follow her recommendations instead of their doctors'.


If the nurse needed some specific information, she should ask the parent and then contact the physician with permission. I just cannot see why the school would need access to everything in a child's records whenever they felt like it.

I really hate these blanket forms. Ours does them for field trips. You must sign a form at the beginning of the year granting permission for them to take your child anywhere they decide to schedule a field trip for that year. What if I don't want to give permission for a particular trip?

 

[SaraJayne]

a little back story on this.... my son gets eczema. He will get a break out if he has something that has one of his triggers. We are not sure exactly what the triggers are because it he might get a reaction from something one day and it never bothers him again.. ( we have an appointment with an allergist next month)

He had an a spot above his upper lip that looked like a pimple. The doctor saw it along with a couple other spots and told us to use his rx cream. a few days later it he managed to nick it when he was getting dressed. it was inflammed. I put the cream on it and sent him to school. the nurse called and wanted to know what it was. She was not quiet about letting me know that she did not think it was eczema and that she wanted him to get check out, she was being such a pain that I called the ped and they offered see him just to shut her up. they still said it was eczema but gave him a stronger cream.. and a note saying he was fine. unfortunately the new medicine they gave him caused it to heal too fast on the outside and trapped the bacteria which turned into an abscess and cellulitis. He was hospitalized because he needed IV meds for 4 days to get rid of the infection. The school nurse tried to tell me that if he needed the IV meds then he MUST have had MRSA and I was probably confused by the medical terminology. the only reason he had the IV meds is because the swelling in his face was affecting his breathing and they wanted to monitor it.

Your school nurse is an idiot.

 

[bgirldeb]

So this nurse thinks the only bacteria that requires IV antibiotics is MRSA? I wouldn't be giving her access to anything.....

 

[focusondisney]

Your school nurse is an idiot.

An arrogant one at that.

 

[SaraJayne]

An arrogant one at that.

As anyone that's been around this board long enough knows, both my Mom and my sister are RN's.

So I don't routinely go around calling medical folks "idiots". But this one sure deserves the label.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Always such hostility towards the school nurse on these threads.

If anyone cares to familiarize themselves with the role of the school nurse, here's a good example. http://www.answers4families.org/book/export/html/86

 

[focusondisney]

As anyone that's been around this board long enough knows, both my Mom and my sister are RN's.

So I don't routinely go around calling medical folks "idiots". But this one sure deserves the label.

Listen, I'm an RN. I totally agree with you!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

BTW I probably wouldn't sign the form, either.

 

[SaraJayne]

Always such hostility towards the school nurse on these threads.

If anyone cares to familiarize themselves with the role of the school nurse, here's a good example. http://www.answers4families.org/book/export/html/86

My sister was a school nurse. I'm well aware of what her job was.

Looking at that link, I guess the "new" correct terminology for my Mom and sister is BSN RN.

 

[kamik86]

Several people have asked what's the big deal or what shouldn't the nurse know about. I can think of many things but the most private may be sexual abuse or genitalia issues. Certainly there are children in that school who have more information in their medical records than a few colds or ear infections. What about family history/info? That's in most children's records. Does the school really need access to that?



I think people are also assuming that the access to medical records is not going to lead to gossip and being second-guessed about your parenting, but in many communities there is really little expectation of privacy once someone at school (nurse/teachers/etc) hears about it. Especially in a situation like the OP was just discussing where it seems the school nurse would really enjoy getting unlimited access to students' medical information so she could make her own diagnoses and make parents follow her recommendations instead of their doctors'.


If the nurse needed some specific information, she should ask the parent and then contact the physician with permission. I just cannot see why the school would need access to everything in a child's records whenever they felt like it.

I really hate these blanket forms. Ours does them for field trips. You must sign a form at the beginning of the year granting permission for them to take your child anywhere they decide to schedule a field trip for that year. What if I don't want to give permission for a particular trip?

I have never worked in a school but since someone above mentioned a camp... yeah I knew way more medical information then I should have about the kids at camp because I was friends with the director and the "nurse" (really someone with first aid training and a few other things not an actual nurse) had a bit of a big mouth. This includes the child that got her period for the first time at camp, the one who had an infected bug bite the diagnoises of the child that had to go to the hospital after hitting her arm when she fell out of a kayak etc... since none of these children were even in my group that time I really didn't need to know about any of them. So why would I think a school would be that different?

 

[Sorsha]

Bah. Wouldn't care at all. If they feel that in an emergency it serves my child's best interests to be able to get their information from their doctor, then more power to them.

I am not a huge privacy advocate though... census, etc don't bother me. I don't see the fuss.

 

[tiggger1]

Oh, I agree, absolutely. But the minute the nurse went from asking about the diagnosis to saying she needed to review his records because she thought he wasn't diagnosed and treated correctly, she went over the line. It was insulting to the parents, and insulting to the child's physician.

And saying that he must have had MRSA because he received IV antibiotics is just laughable. As if MRSA is the only organism that causes cellulitis....she must have been snoozing during microbiology class. Compounding it by saying that the mom must not have understood the medical terminology....I'm as mild-mannered as they come, but she'd be getting an earful from me at that point.

Considering I had just spent the past 3 nights on a pull out chair in the hospital, she was lucky that I did not smack her. I had gone to the school to drop off the note and to pick up some more school work from his teacher. The second she saw me, she started bombarding me with questions. turned out that the 2nd medicine that they gave him is also used for impetigo. then she asked what iv meds they used because it was sounded like mrsa since he was on the iv for so long...I told her I was positive it was not mrsa and then she told me I was probably confused. I told her he was seen by 5 different doctors and they all said it didnt look like MRSA and that both tests came back negative. I started to get a little loud and she finally backed off..

 

[focusondisney]

Always such hostility towards the school nurse on these threads.

If anyone cares to familiarize themselves with the role of the school nurse, here's a good example. http://www.answers4families.org/book/export/html/86

I don't have hostility to school nurses. The nurse when my kids were in grade school was wonderful. And I would not want the job that our inner city school nurses have. I know they work hard and have to cope with complex issues & situations on a daily basis.


My problem is with any nurse who seeks to overstep her license. Trying to diagnosis & second guess the successful treatment by a licensed physician is way over the line. Trying to intimidate a parent & force her idea of treatment is also over the line. I would not let that type of nurse have access to any medical information she doeasn't absolutely need. None of her busness what's in my child's full medical record.

I'm wondering if all those who would grant this unlimited access to the child's medical record would sign the same kind of release for their employer? After all, might you not get sick or have an emergency at work? Wouldn't you want someone to have access to your full medical record in case your next of kin isn't reached immediately?? Same thing, in my book.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I have never worked in a school but since someone above mentioned a camp... yeah I knew way more medical information then I should have about the kids at camp because I was friends with the director and the "nurse" (really someone with first aid training and a few other things not an actual nurse) had a bit of a big mouth. This includes the child that got her period for the first time at camp, the one who had an infected bug bite the diagnoises of the child that had to go to the hospital after hitting her arm when she fell out of a kayak etc... since none of these children were even in my group that time I really didn't need to know about any of them. So why would I think a school would be that different?

First, not a professional nurse.

But if people are finding that nurses are breaching confidentiality, then that's a serious offense that should be dealt with.

But there is a difference between gossiping and discussing pertinent medical information within the professional role.

 

[Talking Hands]

I agree with your goal for #2, but the situation you presented would only have been prevented if the nurse had gotten all the records AND read over all them.

No not at all. This would have been on the emergency contact card and could have been left in the sub notes by the teacher or school nurse. In another instance I had a diabetic kindergarten student with diabetes and the teacher did inform me so I knew to give her a snack at a certain time and send her to the nurse to have her sugar tested. That day a parent wanted to bring cupcakes for her child's birthday. I was able to contact her parent and discuss how the diabetic child could be included in the celebration. Had I not had to information it could have been a disaster. This was before HIPPA. Subs really do need to have basic info on a child with a condition that might need intervention during class time. All that is needed is a list from the teacher of the information in the sub folder or if they go for meds or testing a prefilled out pass to hand to the student.