I'm a member of the National Diabetes Education Program Children and Adolescents Work Group. Janet Silverstein, MD, from Florida and I have volunteered to prepare three articles for a school nurse journal, and I'm looking for help from the CWD community to provide input for the articles. Specifically, I'm looking for your experiences in the following areas: 1. Teens and School Nurses ? We're looking for teens with type 1 diabetes who have had a particularly good experience with their school nurse. We'd like to hear how the nurse has made a difference in the life of the teen. We'd like to hear from the teen, the nurse, and potentially a parent and school administrator. The goal is to showcase school nurses who have made a positive impact on the life of a student. We'll publish a couple of these stories. 2. Teen Athletes and Coaches ? We're looking for high school students with type 1 diabetes who have had a coach who has helped them to succeed in their sport while being supportive of their diabetes. We'd like to hear from the student and their coach and will publish a couple of stories. 3. Successfully Communicating with Schools ? We're looking for parents to share stories of successful communication strategies with schools. Kids can be any age. We'd like to hear from the parent, the school support team (nurse, administrator, etc.) and the health care team if appropriate. The goal is to identify and share simple strategies that can make a big difference. We'll publish a couple of these stories. The best way to share your experience for these articles is to send an email to info@childrenwithdiabetes.com. If you can, please send a photo ? I want to include them in the published articles. This is a great chance to showcase school staff who make a difference for our kids. Thanks in advance for your help.
So It does not need to be a "school Nurse", but more so the staff that helps with D care no matter their positions?
Is this for an academic journal ? I never knew it was okay to solicit a certain quality of experience (positive ) for qualitative / phenomenological research.
The journal is for school nurses, so my preference is nurses. And the articles are similar to many others that the NDEP has provided for this journal.
We have an amazing school nurse - I feel so blessed to have her support. It's the relationship that I would have asked for if I could have. What is the next step? Should I get her permission?
very pleased with our nurse..while she is hardly at the school (jr high) she did help a group of us t1 parents in our district to get a generic 504 plan in place..took what WE wanted for our kids and got it all approved
School Nurse? What's that........signed California But in all seriousness, we are ohhh I dunno just finished with our first semester of our first year of middle school and I've seen hide nor hair. After elementary school nurse, I can't say it's such a bad thing tho :cwds:
"school" nurse We don't have school nurses here in Ontario schools but our daughter was lucky enough to have a Nurse "assigned" to her from kindergarten to grade 2 full-time and grade 3 for snacks and lunch- this year grade 4 she's on her own. Not sure if you wanted just U.S experience with school nurses?
In response, yes, please work with your nurse to get permission to share the story, and yes, a story from Canada would be great.
School Nurse Story Our grandson, Eric, was diagnosed at age 8. From the beginning he has tested himself, prepared and administered his insulin. We will skip his gradeschool experience because the schools were more of an obstacle to testing and treatment. Eric is now in his final semester of high school. The high school nurse, Judy Pendelton is a true professional. Judy recognized that Eric needed minimal supervision with the mechanics of carb counting and insulin delivery via pump. Eric went to her office daily for his first three years in order to have a place to concentrate and get his bolus going for his lunch carbs. More than that though, he received emotional support and enjoyed being treated as a young adult. In his senior year he decided his schedule was too tight to go to the nurse before lunch and he just went directly to the lunch room. Judy expressed concern about not seeing him but did not insist upon making him come in and promoting dependence. She recognized his need to be autonomous and adjusted her role to be available if he lost his pump site or had other problems. Eric was secure in knowing that she cared and was available. He appreciated that she recognized his competence in managing his care. We felt very comfortable entrusting Eric to Judy. Judy is the epitomy of student centered school nursing!
Phyllis -- thanks. Can you email me a photo of Eric and Judy together? jeffh@childrenwithdiabetes.com
Jeff, You said coaches, but Zach is an actor/singer/dancer. Will you take inputs about directors? Brian
Jeff, We are very lucky, my son was diagnosed in January of his freshman year in high school. He returned to school four days after diagnosis, we were confused, nervous and overtired. Our school nurse was both calm and knowledgeable - she really helped get us through the first six months. Grant would go to the nurses office to inject before lunch everyday. He worked out a system witht he nurse to quickly show her his dosing even if she was working with another student. She felt he was handling his own care well and told him he didn't need to come to the nurses office unless he wanted to, he has been injecting in the lunchroom with his friends ever since. Occasionally he will go to her office if he isn't feeling well and she will have him test a few times to make sure all is OK. She has a great sense of when he might be using D to escape some class activity. I am comfortable asking her what she would do if it was her child - once she has suggested he come home, and twice she has suggested he return to class. Grant plays both on the varsity golf and ice-hockey teams. Both of his coaches are great and would do anything to support Grant during play. His golf coach has added gatorade to his list of items to always have on the course. We use gatorade to ensure he is not low while walking 18 holes. Only the coach can hand things to a player during a tournament, the coach makes sure Grant always has gatorade - he has even made a special trip to get the melon flavor Grant likes. Early on he bought low sugar gatorade and I had to explain why we needed the carbs - he gets it now and is wonderful at balancing concern and not making Grant feel out of place.
School nurse The nurse loves my son and is very conserned about his numbers. Unfortunatly she has a bad experience with a little girl that dropped low and passed out. She revived her but it has left a lasting effect. She is always trying to give my son carbs because she would rather him run high so he woun't pass out. She sends home a list of numbers every day. She will tell me his numbers were great when he is in the high 100s or 200. He will be 90 with 45 minutes to lunch and she wants to give him sugar just in case. Nothing I do or notes the doctor sends seems to change her style. Even though he is on a pump she still insisits that he gets 20 carbs for snack at 10am even if he is over 200.
