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Prescription meds school policy loosened

August 13, 2013

needle 2Unlicensed school personnel can now administer prescription medications, including insulin injections, to students following a landmark California Supreme Court decision handed down this week. (Sacramento Bee)

The unanimous 26-page decision overturned two lower court decisions which had held that only licensed nurses and medical personnel could give the drugs.

Nursing groups opposed the action. Several of those had questioned a state Board of Education policy that allowed persons other than trained and incensed medical personnel to administer to students in times of need.

Only five percent of California schools have a full-time nurse, according to state officials.


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Zee “public school system” vill decide what drugs your children are administered. Zee Great Leader vill dictate these policies. You vill acquiesce to zee Great Leader’s wishes. Zee Great Leader’s minions know what’s best for zee children. After all, it takes a village, and Zee Great Leader vill decide who runs that village. More later on Great Leader Media, and of course, viewing is mandatory. All praise Zee Great Leader. See how good zat feeeeeeeeels


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So…can the custodian administer an injection if no one else is available? It the office secretary really qualified…or the P.E coach?

Personally, I’d rather have a nurse on staff rather than some of the idiots that are supposedly educating our children


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If we are talking an insulin shot, then I don’t have a problem with WHOEVER does it. I have known a few people over the years that have had to take. It is a subq needle. The needle isn’t much thicker than a hair and is about an eighth of an inch long. We aren’t talking about someone giving an intravenous shot.


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This ruling is wrong. Period. After working in LAUSD elementary schools in the office, we had to perform many, many jobs that should have been done by a nurse. Too many kids were being given anti-hyperactivity drugs at THAT time and the teachers would frequently forget to send the child in for his meds.

Then when the student was a nightmare during class time or on the play ground, the teacher would yell at the office staff for forgetting to give the kid the meds; We picked out lice, treated minor cuts and abrasions . A nurse would come 1/2 a day and then sit around doing very little and wonder why we needed a nurse at all. Many times when we would call the parent to tell him/her that their child was sick, they would ask, why can’t you just give him an aspirin. Could a non-medical person tell if that child may have an allergy to aspirin or acetominophen? No. That info was in the nurse”s file and it was locked.

If the classified staff is going to be doing nurse’s work, they should be heavily insured by the school district and given compensation for doing out-of-classification work.

If the student needs an insulin shot, parent should come and do it. Even better, the PRINCIPAL of the school should do it if the parent is not available. Will the parent sign a waiver relieving the injector of any responsibilities if something should go wrong? Would you?

True, maybe fifth and sixth grade kids could be responsible for giving themselves a shot, but can you see a 1st, thru 4th grader being responsible for giving themselves a shot?

Who will be responsible for seeing that there is a fresh supply of insulin for these children?


No, no, no insuliin shots by classified staff.


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What happens when the kids are on a bus, walking home, at a friend’s house, at a park with friends, off riding a bike, goes home and no one is there, it is summer time, etc. When does the child learn to inject themselves? Just saying… There are incidents everyday when there is not a nurse available.


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