Imagine for a minute that your child’s school is calling you at work. They are calling to let you know that your son is in the nurse’s office, and he is complaining that he does not feel well. This, if you are a parent of a school-aged child, is probably not that hard to imagine. This has most likely happened to you on at least one occasion. And when this happens, it is both the school’s and your reaction that he should be picked up for the day, regardless of the severity of his ailment. So, let’s look at what this means for everyone involved.
The Parent
You as the parent now have to leave work, drive to the school, and take your son either home or to the doctor. This means that you are missing valuable time at your place of employment. You may have to take sick/vacation time in order to go to the school…if you have any, and you could potentially miss out on pay. Obviously, as a parent, we want to make sure that our children are safe and healthy, but more often than not, the ailment that your child has can be something as simple as a basic head cold or a test in 6th period that he forgot to study for. Either way, not exactly an emergent situation.
The Student
The student probably does not see much that can be classified as negative when it comes to leaving school early. But, he is the one that is affected the most. You pick up your son and take him home or to the doctor. Now, he is out of class. He is not receiving instruction. He is not getting his assignments in a timely manner, and he is missing that test in 6th period. In fact, attendance is one of the leading influencers of early reading and math skills according to attendanceworks.org. He can’t learn from the teacher if he is not there in the class.
The School
This one is a little harder to discern at first glance. Most people would say that a child leaving the school for the day early doesn’t affect the school at all. This is not the case. There is the belief that the school is altruistic in its approach to its students. The school, as a whole, wants nothing more than for each and every student to succeed academically. Let’s not forget the teachers. When a student misses class, the teacher must make sure that he gets caught up, the due dates of assignments are shuffled, and the class sometimes is held up temporarily. We should also remember the aforementioned 6th period test – grading the tests and the posting of those scores is now delayed, not to mention that there may be a need to create an alternate version of the test to ensure “honesty.”
School-based telehealth is an approach that could help curb all of these inconveniences. With school-based telehealth, your son will go to the nurses office, be connected with a primary care physician or specialist via interactive video, and a specified course of action will be determined. In some cases a prescription can be called in so you do not have to miss work. He will either need to see his doctor, be sent home, or be sent right back to class just in time for 6th period.
School-based telehealth provides the opportunity to assess a child’s health more completely and accurately. This aids by decreasing the number of absences as well as getting children the medical attention they truly need and may not otherwise receive.
