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To those of you who don't think that schools should have nurses and used the argument about stores, malls, etc. not having nurses since kids go there too...there is a distinct difference. The school has responsibility for the kids during the day...other places don't. The school does act in loco parentis during the school day.
It's drastically different from a mall because the kids are usually at the mall with an adult who is responsible for them. At a school, the adults there take over responsibility. Parents are (unless they want to home school) required to send their kids to school for 7-8 hours each day and required to put their trust and put their kids' safety in the hands of the adults at the school. There is no other place to which parents are required by law to send their kids.
FWIW, in this case I think the school did everything they could with what they had. But I also think that every school needs an AED and every teacher needs to be trained in CPR. It's not that hard...even if it takes one day a year and costs $50-$100. And of course every school needs a full time RN. That's not too much to ask.
To those of you who don't think that schools should have nurses and used the argument about stores, malls, etc. not having nurses since kids go there too...there is a distinct difference. The school has responsibility for the kids during the day...other places don't. The school does act in loco parentis during the school day.
It's drastically different from a mall because the kids are usually at the mall with an adult who is responsible for them. At a school, the adults there take over responsibility. Parents are (unless they want to home school) required to send their kids to school for 7-8 hours each day and required to put their trust and put their kids' safety in the hands of the adults at the school. There is no other place to which parents are required by law to send their kids.
FWIW, in this case I think the school did everything they could with what they had. But I also think that every school needs an AED and every teacher needs to be trained in CPR. It's not that hard...even if it takes one day a year and costs $50-$100. And of course every school needs a full time RN. That's not too much to ask.
"FWIW, in this case I think the school did everything they could with what they had. But I also think that every school needs an AED and every teacher needs to be trained in CPR. It's not that hard...even if it takes one day a year and costs $50-$100. And of course every school needs a full time RN. That's not too much to ask."
AED's are being put into the schools here but there is about four people at each school being taught how to us them. It may have been uped from the four but that was the last number I heard.
The average cost for a CPR class with Red Cross let's say is $65.00. If a school has 40 full time employees the cost would be $2600.00. Who would pay for this? And they would have to certified every two years.
An RN makes around $65,000.00 a year plus benefits. (in some areas they make a lot more) Can the schools afford that?
"FWIW, in this case I think the school did everything they could with what they had. But I also think that every school needs an AED and every teacher needs to be trained in CPR. It's not that hard...even if it takes one day a year and costs $50-$100. And of course every school needs a full time RN. That's not too much to ask."
AED's are being put into the schools here but there is about four people at each school being taught how to us them. It may have been uped from the four but that was the last number I heard.
The average cost for a CPR class with Red Cross let's say is $65.00. If a school has 40 full time employees the cost would be $2600.00. Who would pay for this? And they would have to certified every two years.
An RN makes around $65,000.00 a year plus benefits. (in some areas they make a lot more) Can the schools afford that?
I'm just asking.....
I know that AED's are being put in to the schools in TX and that's a good thing, more than four need to be trained to use them. As far as the CPR classes, that's not terribly excessive. 40 employees would be a school of about 500 kids minimum. So $2,600 / 500 = $5.20 per kid.
The RN's at the schools around here make almost exactly the same as the teachers do. Starting pay is about $45K a year. If we're talking about a HS with 1,500-2,000 kids, that's not very much per student. If you're talking about an elementary school with 500 kids, it may be a bit more but it's certainly not an exorbinant cost.
The money is already floating around school district budgets being spent on unnecessary costs....why not just redirect it.
To those of you who don't think that schools should have nurses and used the argument about stores, malls, etc. not having nurses since kids go there too...there is a distinct difference. The school has responsibility for the kids during the day...other places don't. The school does act in loco parentis during the school day.
It's drastically different from a mall because the kids are usually at the mall with an adult who is responsible for them. At a school, the adults there take over responsibility. Parents are (unless they want to home school) required to send their kids to school for 7-8 hours each day and required to put their trust and put their kids' safety in the hands of the adults at the school. There is no other place to which parents are required by law to send their kids.
FWIW, in this case I think the school did everything they could with what they had. But I also think that every school needs an AED and every teacher needs to be trained in CPR. It's not that hard...even if it takes one day a year and costs $50-$100. And of course every school needs a full time RN. That's not too much to ask.
I have taken CPR many times, and it's still confusing to me, and I have a nursing degree and 30+ years experience. Also, I have never had to do CPR in all those years, nor have most of the nurses I know. One nurse friend did CPR once, on a neighbor, and another worked in a pediatrician's office and did it once on a parent. I have worked in acute care (hospitals), public health, and at present, in a dr.'s office.
Some other tidbits about CPR: kids rarely have cardiac arrests, they usually have a respiratory arrest due to accidents, particularly drowning. You do not do CPR on responsive individuals, e.g., someone who can speak, someone who is unconscious but has a pulse and/or respirations. I'm not sold on the need for AEDs in schools, except for use on the staff.
Re: nurses in schools- Day care centers, which have even yougner kids, do not have nurses, but most do require all staff to have CPR training. Again, sometimes I think CPR is a little over-rated. Once, my daughter had an accident at a gymnasitcs meet, and it was handled badly. Turned out no one at the rec center knew first aid, though the director assured me everyone that worked there, including the custodial staff, knew CPR. Well, surprise, that wasn't what she needed. (We worked with the RC to push getting at least some staff first aid certified.) I think every school should have a health room with qualified personnel, but I don't think that means every school should have a nurse (RN) on duty at all times. It is my professional opinion that a trained health aid is appropriate. The number of times an incident like this is going to happen is miniscule. If a person doesn't use their skills, they're not going to know what to do, even if they are a nurse. A doctor said this was the worst situation he had seen in 31 years. You are putting a lot on a nurse to think s/he could have handled this any better.
I know that AED's are being put in to the schools in TX and that's a good thing, more than four need to be trained to use them. As far as the CPR classes, that's not terribly excessive. 40 employees would be a school of about 500 kids minimum. So $2,600 / 500 = $5.20 per kid.
The RN's at the schools around here make almost exactly the same as the teachers do. Starting pay is about $45K a year. If we're talking about a HS with 1,500-2,000 kids, that's not very much per student. If you're talking about an elementary school with 500 kids, it may be a bit more but it's certainly not an exorbinant cost.
The money is already floating around school district budgets being spent on unnecessary costs....why not just redirect it.
"why not just redirect it."
Good luck on that one...LOL
I think the school system looks more to the whole cost other than the per cost.
Some school nurses choose to be school nurses because they have school age children and it makes it easier on the parent to have the same hours as the children.
But I don't think most nurses are willing to take a $30,000.00 or more a year cut in pay.
Katiana, tried to rep this post, but couldn't. I think people are looking at this incident as something that happens more often. It doesn't, and hardly warrants staff all over the place knowing nothing short of what a doctor knows.
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