Question about Cathing at School?

[KatWrangler]

We are going round and round trying to get Gabrielle set up with Head Start.  With the new school she will have to be cath'd while there.  I will not be able to go and do this.  Someone at the school will have to do it.

So my question is, does it need to be a sterile cath or will they cath like we do at home?  What equipment do you have at school for your child?  I was under the impression it had to be a sterile cath like at the hospital, but now I am not so sure.

[anj_rn]

In our school district it had to be a sterile cath and had to be done by a nurse (either the nurse assigned to the child or the school nurse).  Supplies were generally provided by the parents (via DMEs).  The child I cathed had straight cath kits (like they use to obtain a specimen, and I used a ziplock gallon bag (with a quick zip) to catch the urine.  There was another child who had a kit with a urine collection bag.

[Kristine233]

Yeah, my guess is that it would have to be a sterile cath because of risk of infection. Does the Head Start program have a nurse on site?  I don't know that a regular teacher or aide would be allowed to do it?  If they wont do it can you do an indwelling cath with a small leg bag for while at Head Start? I know its not ideal, but not sure if they will do a straight cath there without a nurse.  Do you have a PCA ?

[KatWrangler]

Head Start has never had this come up.  Gabrielle will be their first.  No policy in place either.  Sigh... They do not have a nurse, someone will have to be trained to cath her.

I called the school nurse at my son's school (Gabrielle will be going there 2011) to see what they require.  Um, they don't have any policy in place either! 

The kits have been put on order.  Crossing my fingers everything gets approved.

[bamamom]

I was talking about this in our district. My son's SN preschool teacher said that they had a child once who had to be cath'd and she was really really unsure and didn't want to do it. She was not a nurse, she was a teacher.  She said she was really really worried about the liability wrt sexual abuse issues there as well.

Now our district has a nurse in every school, so it's moot.  But the above reasons may be why Head Start is a little taken aback.

[KatWrangler]

Well we got the kits last week.  Woo Hoo!  It was a struggle but they are here.

My husband went round and round with Head Start.  Finally, she will start on Monday afternoon.  Woo Hoo!  Monday we have a meeting about the cathing and how to do it.