5 Helpful Tips for Dealing with Schools & Medicine

In the midst of the holiday season it is more than a little bit common for our children, and sometimes us, to come down with a cold or sometimes flu requiring some kind of medicine. Often medicine is taken beyond when symptoms are present too which can lead to building super bugs that are resistant to the treatments we have to offer, so it is important to follow directions and finish any prescription we are given, especially the antibiotics.

First Tip: Get Required Forms Ahead of Time
My first experience in the world of asking the school employees to administer medicine was kind of daunting, for a variety of reasons, the first of which being that I learned they only have a nurse at the school 2 days a week! Second of which regarding the required paperwork. I had brought a note from the doctor thinking it would mean something (it didn't) and was handed a copy of a form that they said was required by the state for them to administer any medicine. This made me grateful that my other daughter had a check up that day so I'd be going to the doctor anyway and would be able to get the required by state forms filled out. I recommend getting two of these forms or better getting a digital copy you can print out as needed so that you can bring them proactively to the appointment and have your doctor fill it out then rather than having to go back just for paperwork.

Second Tip: Clarifying Method of Transporting of Medicine
I know this might sound like it is overkill, but not specifying things like the nitty gritty of "I will pick up and drop off the medicine each day" or "how will child get to the office for the medicine" can lead to some pretty big complications. In my case I got a message, the first day they were trusted to give her the medicine, that said that my daughter, "Hadn't come to the office to get the medicine and when they were able to get her there she didn't need it, so they put the medicine in her back back to take home." I don't know how bad this sounds to someone reading this, but I had 2+ discussions, involving 2 women in the front office, about transporting the medicine (an inhaler) on the bus and it had been decided that it was not a good idea because risk ran too high of it being an interesting 'thing' to play with and no adult supervision would be there aside from the bus driver. Also I had brought the medicine in the morning, and we had determined a good place to leave it where I could find it when I came to pick it up. I recommend writing out lots of instructions and specifically calling out the transporting of medicine, ideally there is 2 of the prescription one for home and one for school, but this really comes into play if the child has to take meds before, during and after school.

Third Tip: Figure Out How Child Will Get Medicine
Part of the message I mentioned in the last paragraph mentioned that my daughter (5) had "not come for her medicine" during the expected time. I had written lunchtime on the bag I left in the office, talked about it in the office and more, but I found out later that her teacher was supposed to be told to send her down. Personally I didn't think this made sense because the teacher is busy and handling close to 30 kids all day, and it seemed like the ladies in the office could make a quick call to send her to the office. However they do it though, it wasn't made clear, and so it didn't happen. Had I known I had to tell the teacher (or at least my daughter) that she needed to go take her medicine at lunch time, I would have let them know. I recommend this too is a part of the written instructions.

Fourth Tip: Four Copies of ALL Written Instructions
I found that talking to two, at times three people was not sufficient and did not get information that needed to be communicated where it needed to be. In all these tips here I recommend that you write down the related information, it all needs to be together, ideally on one page but as you know it won't always fit, most importantly there will be four copies at least. I recommend that your child has a copy in their backpack and they know that if anyone has questions the answers are there. Second copy to your child's teacher so that they are aware of all that they need to do and what is going on. Third copy to the nurse/office staff responsible for administering the medicine (might want a couple copies for them if staff changes). Fourth copy in a plastic bag (with your child's name and your phone number written on it) that has the medicine in it so that anyone finding the medicine knows who it is for and what the instructions are I also wrote the time medicine was to be taken on the bag but disturbingly it didn't seem to help, so yes, at least four copies!!

Fifth Tip: Clarify How Long Child Will Take Medicine/Who Decides
I think this was the part of the message I received that was the most upsetting, which was that the secretary had determined that my daughter "didn't need" the medicine. Again many conversations had touched on this to which I let them know that her doctor was very adamant about her taking the medicine every four hours and that yes, she absolutely had to take it at school. Even more frustrating was that it was her first day they were trusted to give her what she was prescribed and they had taken it upon themselves to determine she didn't need it. This is after three meetings, two doctors appointments and me driving to and from school multiple times for the sole purpose of getting what was needed there for them to be able to give her the medicine. Also that they didn't call when she was there to ask me, they already missed the opportunity to give it to her and just called me and told me she didn't get it. I recommend that in writing you are very very clear about who is allowed to make the decision regarding whether or not the medication is or is not needed any longer, and that this is written and also spoken to all parties receiving the four copies of written instructions.

All in all, I think that if at all possible, it is probably best for us parents to just go to the school at the times our kids need medicine and give it to them. If this isn't possible, the instructions above are very important to reduce complications. Hopefully other schools take the responsibility more seriously but I think the more professionally we make the hand off the more we can improve the chances of things going smoothly. I thought I was prepared and learned that clearly I was not.

I ended up calling back and requesting they go get the medicine out of my daughters back pack so that I could come pick it up as planned and she wouldn't be given the dangerous opportunity to play with her inhaler on the bus. I also informed them that the deep congestion we were fighting is barely heard without a stethoscope but it was heard in the morning when she woke and when she ran, and that I would stop bringing it each morning when it was clear that she no longer needed it, and I did end up choosing to go each day to give it to her myself because I'm lucky enough to have time for that.

I wish you a happy and healthy season for you and your family!!

Sources:
http://immunedisorders.homestead.com/antibiotics.html