The Clinic is Open

Do I miss hands-on patient care? How could I! I do nursing of some sort every day at school. No, I am not the school nurse, yet there must be an invisible shingle hanging at my classroom door announcing, "Joyce D, RN, BSN. The Clinic is Open. " Students come to me regularly to ask about their ailment of the day. Before school is the peak time for visits. Sometimes the waiting room is bustling. Kids I don't even know come to the clinic. I give out bandaids, triple antibiotic cream, and medical/first aid tips daily. I look at every kind of bump, bruise, burn, and boo-boo imaginable. I do more listening than anything. I hear about students' and their family members' trips to the doctor or hospital. I hear details about injuries, even to pets. They tell me about medical things or non-medical things they have heard or have seen especially on TV. These conversations occur hourly in my classroom clinic.

The talk in my room usually begins something like this: "Can you feel if I have a fever?" "Would you take my blood pressure?" "What do you think is making my eye swell shut?" "My friend hurt her foot and it's all swollen up. Is it broken?" "What do you think these bites are from? They itch real bad!" "Is my belly button infected? I just got it pierced last week. I don't want to take it out!" "Look at this bump and tell me what it is." "I jammed my finger. What should I do? I can't even see my knuckle and it really hurts." "I have a pain right here. What's it from?" "What should I put on this sunburn?" I make a few comments or suggestions, but mostly, I look, smile, and I listen.

Yesterday a student stayed after class to talk to me privately. I was expecting something very profound. I had to mask a large grin when she asked if there was a medical treatment she could take to become taller. She wants to be a model and feels she can never reach her goal at the height of 5'2". She was very serious.

I went to the school counselor a few months back about a student's confession of depression and burning himself. This student occasionally comes by the "clinic" to talk even after finishing weeks of counseling. Several students invited me to the library to hear them as they read poems they had written. The recovering depressed student and others I knew spilled their guts as they read their poesm. I was an honored guest and they thanked me for listening.

Two of my students are pregnant. They have asked about fetal development and child birth. Another student confided she was afraid she had gotten pregnant over the weekend and wanted to know long until a home pregnancy test would give a reliable result. One senior was going for her first pap smear and wanted to know what to expect. She didn't want to ask her mom. Students tell me what they know and inquire if they are on target. I do explain some things to them, but most of all I lovingly affirm them and listen.

Even teachers come to the "clinic" at times. Several come regularly to weigh in on our scale. One is loosing too much weight stressing while her husband is in Iran. Some want their blood pressure checked and are concerned about their medication not working. I have been summoned several times by a teacher or administrator to respond when a student was having a seizure and the school nurse was not present. The student and their parents want to talk, to hear details about what happened, and to know what to communicate to their doctor.

One day last week a coach came running into the room asking for the wheelchair. One of our student athletes has a BKA (above the knee amputation) and a prosthetic leg. His "leg" broke at the ankle. He needed a way to get around school. They took the chair to him. At the end of the day the student came to return the wheelchair saying he had to go to a track meet. I asked how he would get around. He said he could hop. Until his prosthesis is fixed he is using our department's crutches after school and wheelchair during school. Every morning and afternoon he comes by to make the exchange and to talk.

You know, as a nurse in the school setting, I find things really aren't much different than they were in the hospital. There are a lot of people in both places that need someone to care for them but more than anything to listen.