Medicine in kids’ hands

Manier, J. (1998, November 22). Medicine in kids’ hands. Chicago Tribune, Section 4, pp. 1, 3.

OVERVIEW

" ‘Years ago, a (elementary school) nurse could expect maybe two children all year long to have medication in school. Now it’s almost like being in a hospital ward,’ " says Bettye Endicott, principal consultant for school health services at the Illinois State Board of Education.

By the late 1990s (and although figures vary from school district to district), most schools have 3 to 5 percent of their students on medication at any given time. In an elementary school of 500, that’s about 20 students taking daily medications.

State law in Illinois allows school students to self-administer their prescription drugs. With money tight, and with the striking increase of students on Ritalin and other drugs, some schools keep pupils’ medicine in an open plastic tray (with separate compartments for each student) in the nurses office. Each student on medication is responsible to taking the right amount of the right (his or her) drug at the right time.

More than a million U.S. students are using Ritalin for hyperactivity. But Ritalin is also a rather dangerous street drug—and used like Speed in some all-night dance clubs.

According to state officials there have been a few complaints from parents when children have taken the wrong drug or the wrong usage. Michelle Bolster’s 5-year-old foster son takes Ritalin, and she objected believing him too young to be responsible for its use during school. " ‘For heaven’s sake, we’re talking about Ritalin, a controlled substance on the street.’ "

Many nurses also object to the policy. Joanne Swanson is a nurse at New Trier High School in Winnetka and immediate past president of the Illinois Association of School Nurses. In her opinion:

We consider administering medication to be a nursing duty. It’s not just opening a container and pouring out pills. You need information from the pharmacy, how the drug is being applied to that student, what warning signs a teacher might need to look for.

Chicago school officials argue that 329 nurses cannot serve all the physical needs of the city’s 433,000 students. And around the state the percentage of districts that employ a school nurse has dropped to 40 percent.

One parent, whose 8-year-old daughter had to be shown how to open a child-proof bottle of Ritalin argues:

They don’t let nursing home residents take their own medicine. There’s a reason why they make those bottles child-proof.

It is hoped that pharmaceutical advances will produce time-release Ritalin pills whose affect will last 10 hours allowing many students to get their medications at home. Meanwhile the debate continues.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Could you make an argument for the position of parents, nurses, school officials, and of children themselves?
2. How do you explain the apparent rise of stress and hyperactivity among American children and the increased need for school-time medications?
3. Are the children in your country or region showing such symptoms?
4. How can we meet the increased social costs of our increasingly stressful societies?

IMPLICATIONS

1. The problems and stresses of a society often weigh most heavily on the young.
2. The problems highlighted in this article are symptoms of underlying tensions and stresses in our society.
3. Cost crises can should force a society to look at underlying issues and its quality of life.
4. So far there has been no serious injury or death because of student self-medication. Such a tragedy would force a town or district to evaluate the additional responsibility it is putting on young students.