September 26, 2000
Social Issues: School and Daycare
Question from :
From, USA:
I am a school nurse for two schools, and I am at each one for half of the day. We have a kindergarten student at one school who has type 1 diabetes. His blood sugar is very hard to control, and his doctor states he cannot be left alone at any time. The superintendent of the school has agreed to have an aid in the class ( 23 Students, some with severe behavioral problems) for four hours a day and says that, when I come to work at lunch time, I should go and check on him every 15-20 minutes. The problem I have with this is the other 500 students in the school. To be able to meet their needs (asthma attacks, vision, hearing and headlice screenings, and first aid) I don’t know how this will be possible. Does the school need to have an aid for the whole day?
Answer:
It seems that that doctor’s request is unreasonable, but I would need to know his/her rationale and more details about this child. First of all, I have never (in over 20 years of working with kids who have diabetes) known any child who needed to have blood sugars checked every 30 minutes. This seems very strange to me. Why does he think this is needed? It appears that there must be something wrong with this child’s current treatment plan, and I would strongly suggest that this child’s parent have him seen by a diabetes team specializing in pediatric diabetes. Secondly, I believe that testing this often is likely to cause more psychological problems for this child.
SS
