I was reading the article on Salon about a lack of school nurses. There are many sick kids, sometimes more than 10% of the student body.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/09/29/schoolnurses/index.html
So, is there an epidemic of child illness? More allergies, asthma, ADHD, and whatnot? What’s the straight dope?
Yes, allergies and asthma are more common than they used to be.
ADHD may or may not be more common.
HIV didn’t exist in school kids in North America 30 years agol
And there are a certain number of children who, years ago, would have died but are now alive thanks to medical care.
The other thing is mainstreaming - when my husband was a school kid he and all the other “defective” and “sick” kids were all sent to the same school where they had lots of nurses and aides, leaving nothing but healthy kids (for the most part) at regular schools. Now, those same “cripple kids” are dispersed throughout school systems which is arguablly better for them educationally and socially but causes some logistical problems in caring for them.
Another problem is the “zero tolerance” no-drugs craze. When I was going to school asthmatics were permitted to carry their inhalers with them. Now, in some areas (and apparently the school mentioned in the article) such medicines must be kept locked up - which seriously reduces their usefulness in an emergency, not to mention drastically increasing the risk to the affected student. Schools are bureacracies, they like rules, structure, and order and dispensing medications on a set schedule - they don’t interact well with something like asthma where medication may needed outside of a set schedule and when needed is needed NOW!!!
More Allergies, Asthma, ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, HIV.
Less TB, Measles, Diptheria, Typhus, Cholera and Polio.
Then, if you got sick you either died or went to a “special school”.
Now if you’re sick you are treated and re-integrated into the mainstream.
More kids living with chronic illness, because fewer kids dying from chronic illness.
My own theory is that the week, risk takers, and some other children who would have died of disease or accidents are now protected by medicine, rubber mats in playgrounds, and those red flashing lights on the schoolbus. These people tend to have more days off then the ‘normal’ children.
Not to mention Tylenol, Advil and frickin’ cough drops. All medications, even over-the-counter or my own herbal preparations, have to be administered by the school nurse, and then only with a signed note from an MD indicating dosage and schedule. So if my kid (who has rods in his spine) needs a mild analgesic after a vigorous game of dodgeball in gym, he has to have a signed doctor’s note to get it - and “as needed” will not fly. If, as happened this week, his father and I have headcolds and I want him to take echinacea as a prophylactic, he has to have a signed doctor’s note to get it. If he gets the cold and has a cough in class and needs a cough drop, he has to have a signed doctor’s note - and leave his class - to get it.
He’s in *seventh *grade. He’s certified in first aid and CPR. This is not to protect a 6 year old from eating too many candy-shaped pills. This is utter bullshit.
Well, in addition to all the stuff already mentioned (like how in the past, seriously ill children either died or went to special schools), don’t forget that all of the OTC and prescription medicine that has to have a doctor’s note and be administered by the nurse, well, all of that only ties up the nurse more and makes her less available for the kids with acute illness. So, most schools used to be able to make due with one nurse, and some schools would even share the same nurse between two schools, well, most schools probably need at least two nurses apiece, now.
Another issue that hasn’t been mentioned is head lice. When I was in first grade (in the mid '60s), a teacher could diagnose head lice, and one treatment of OTC medicated shampoo was pretty much all you needed. Now, a nurse must make the diagnosis, and because of medication-resistant head lice, may need to check the same student a number of times before that child is cleared.