Head Lice daycare/pedi vent

RibbitGrl930 · October 2014

So daycare called to tell me I needed to pick up DS because he'd come in contact with head lice. On the way, I called the pedi for advice on what to use to treat him. The receptionist said she'd have the nurse call me. I turned up the ringer on my cell to ensure i'd hear the call come through. On my way out of daycare, I asked the director what was needed to allow him back tomorrow. She said a doctor's not that he's been seen, and a boxtop from whatever was used to treat him. On the way home, I happened to look at my phone and saw the nurse from the pedi called me, and somehow my phone didn't ring. I was two minutes from home, and my landline is more reliable than my cell, so I decided to wait until i got home to call her back.

So i called her back at the number she left on the voicemail as well as the number she called from. No answer at either. I remained on the line for the answering service and was told the office is closed, there's nothing that could be done. TWO MINUTES this woman couldn't wait to hear back from me. What did she do? Call, lave a message to call her back, then leave?

First of all, I think it's a little ridiculous that a doctor's visit is required for head lice. He doesn't have any open sores or a fever, they just found a few on him. Second, the fact that the nurse at the pedi's office appeared to call, leave a message, then leave steams me up even more, especially considering how early the office closes (4:15 during the week). So he probably can't get seen until tomorrow morning at the earliest, then we'll have to treat him. By the time we get him to daycare, Picture Day will probably be over.

I'm not upset with the daycare director. The return to daycare policies are set by the corporate office....but that particular policy just seems over the top. Also, why bother having a callback service at a pediatrician's office if she apparently has a two-minute window to make contact before you're out of luck?

Just needed to vent. Thanks for listening.

PSU_Texan · October 2014

I agree the policy is silly. At my daughter's school, they don't even ask a kid to be quarantined. They just let you know and ask you to take care of it. The over the counter stuff doesn't really work all that well either. Get one since that is required but the best way to get rid is using a nit comb frequently to get them all out. Also, can you go to a doc-in-the-box type of clinic (at your grocery store or drug store) to get a note?

MamaAllison · October 2014

I totally sympathize about the nurses line. At my pedi you have to speak to the nurse to get a sick visit appoint, and so you call, leave a msg, and then they call you back. I'm a teacher so I can never pick up the phone when they call and so I have to start the process over again. It's maddening!

fitmom82 · October 2014

Thankfully I haven't had to deal with lice yet, but I would have assumed it's one of those stay at home for 24 hour things. If you need a prescription I'd call the emergency line and have them call in a prescription, I've done that for pink eye. I don't think you can really blame the nurse for not sitting around for a call back, she has no idea how long you'll be. I'm a teacher so I often use my cell phone to call parents, but if I was only going to use the school phone I can leave at 2:25, it wouldn't occur to me if I made a call at 2:20 to sit around and wait for a call back.

I also have the issue where I need a call back from a nurse to get advice or make a sick appointment. I try to make calls at the beginning of a lunch or prep so they have about 30 minutes to get back to me, but it doesn't always work. I've gotten a little pushier about making appointments though. My kids are rarely sick so when they are I just tell the receptionist I need to come in today, they're usually pretty accomidating with the appointment.

owlet3 · October 2014

Do they want a note from the doctor post treatment--otherwise I am not sure I understand the purpose of the note pre-treatment-that is just $20 for a doctor to state the obvious and an opportunity to infect others. First line of treatment is over the counter. You can call a clinic and they can advise you of products. Nix/rid pretty much sucks and is toxic. Walmart carries a supposedly non-toxic but smells like it could strip paint Vamousse that promises to kill the eggs and lice. Good luck.

RibbitGrl930 · October 2014

I get that she could 't wait an inordinate amount of time...but two minutes when you've literally just left a message saying, "Call me back"? It really seems like she called, left the message, and immediately left the building, as I know it takes at least that long to gather personal belongings, lock the front door, etc. If you're going to tell a parent with a medical question to call you back, then you should provide at least some reasonable window in which to let the parent call you back. For cripe sake, at least 5 minutes. Or at least indicate how much longer you'll be on the premises. I was a teacher too, and, if I had to leave a message for a parent, I indicated how late would still be at the school for call-back, and further options for contact if they were receiving the message after that point.

Luckily, after a few more tries, I was able to reach an answering service who was able to reach out to an off-site nurse line who gave me some advisement. Now I just have to wait to get an appointment so the doc can look at his head to say he's clear.

Another maddening thing abot the call-back service is that it doesn't seem like the receptionist gives the nurse any details about why the parent is calling. Every time I've called with a question and am told the nurse will call me back, the first thing the nurse always says when she does call is, "So what's going on?" I get that maybe she wants to hear it from me rather than assume the receptionist got it right, but there is no confirmation to show any notes were taken. I would expect something like "So you're calling about head lice treatment, correct?" I really feel like the receptionist takes my message, and just says to the nurse, "Call back this parent.number is blah-blah-blah." So maybe the nurse couldn't leave the answer on the message because she didn't really know why I was calling in the first place. If the practice is to withhold details from the calling nurse, that is a concern, imo.

As for the 24-hr clinic thing, unfortunately, we don't have any of those here. And I assume the daycare wants the doctor's note as proof that he's being treated....which is maddening because I have the stuff i got to treat him that we can show to them. It just seems so unnecessary, as, like you said, the doctor's office might not want him in the officr after they hear "head lice." Hopefully they can just provide a note indicating we called the nurses' line for consult since I did speak with the receptionist when I initially called.

RibbitGrl930 · October 2014

I didn't get home two minutes after leaving daycare. I got home two minutes after she called me- she called me when I was on my way home. It was literally two minutes. The call was on my cell at 4:28, I called her at 4:30 when I got home. And yes, I know I was overreacting. He was cleared by the doctor and didn't miss picture day after all so all is well. I just needed to vent to get out my frustrations.

RibbitGrl930 · October 2014

I am perfectly calm.

I assume they let him back in because the doctor's note said he found no lice or eggs after thoroughly checking him out.

RibbitGrl930 · October 2014

Yeah, that's what the director said. But the doctor combed him over a few times this morning and found nothing.

Mustardseed2007 · October 2014

I'm going to just commiserate and say that getting calls back from any doctors office in general is really annoying. They (of course) don't sit by their phones at all during the day so if you miss their call it means that you may miss your chance to talk to them for hours or perhaps the next day.

I have found that to be true of my GP and OB, but my pedi is at least better at it than all the rest. I've definitely had our pedi call me back at 5:30 or 6pm herself, and once even on the weekend when she was looking at a test result for DD, which is pretty remarkable to me given that she's the only doctor I've ever had who does that.

The one thing our Pedi's office does that is an annoyance is that during the lunch hour they turn an answering machine on and you can't leave a message or anything until 1pm comes back around. I would get that more if they were an office with only a couple receptionists, but they always have at least 4 people back there checking people in and taking calls for appointments.

RibbitGrl930 · October 2014

tricia560 said:

So the nurse at my clinic does this all the time, but they're not intentionally being difficult, it's just that they use automated phone systems and forget that when it hits closing time, the system automatically sends all calls to the after hours message. When she says "call me back" she's still in the office for another 15-30 minutes finishing up the day, possibly dealing with the last patients whose appointments went over closing time, and she fully expects to answer the phone when I call, but she never thinks twice that I don't (because I'm now on hold with the answering service). It's always irritating at the time, but I never think to mention it when I'm actually there...

Yeah, with a calmer head, I realize that is the likely scenario....and technically I pulled first wrong by not answering when she called. Like @cjcouple‌ wisely pointed out, i was overreacting out of frustration.

amy052006 said:

School found lice in him and then the doctor said no? Yeah, someone is full of shit.

Yeah...now if only I knew who! LOL.

Want a personalized experience?

Head Lice daycare/pedi vent

Re: Head Lice daycare/pedi vent

Choose Another Board

Search Boards