So, I’m just curious: has anyone had some really bad/clueless school nurses/office staff? If so, share your stories!!
When I was diagnosed in 1984, school nurses were discouraged from getting involved with diabetic students’ care because it is very complicated. We were completely on our own. Legislation over the last 20 years or so has forced school nurses to get very involved in the care and monitoring of diabetic kids, and to be honest I don’t agree with that. Parents might disagree, but it’s hard enough for us to manage our own diabetes…I can’t imagine having to be held responsible for helping someone else manage it.
I never had an involved school nurse until I was in high school (graduated in 2002). Even then, I only went to her office to test before lunch just so I could use the sharps container. She just liked to chat while I was there and be my friend. She even sent me flowers on graduation day :-). I feel bad for kids growing up diabetic today–as angivan said, I would hate to have to report to the nurse and follow their “protocol”. Seriously D-parents–my best advice is to teach your Dkids to manage themselves as soon as possible. The independence it will give them is priceless.
A couple of years ago, I lost my insulin pen on the way to school, i only realised at lunch time after I had eaten. I went to the office to ask for my box of extra supplies but my spare insulin pen was missing (still a mistery where it went) but anyways the person in the office started looking through the other medication that was there and asked me if an epipen would do!! i was like… Um …NO!! My mom had to drop off another pen but lunch was over by then.
That is really the only experience that I have with school staff, we dont have school nurses here so I am left to my own devices when it comes to my diabetes care.
For the most part, going through K-12, I’ve had amazing nurses who’ve let me do my thing. Honestly only 2 really knew what they were doing, the others were just kinda annoyingly overprotective but I mean I understood they meant well. One time I did get pissed because this receptionist who wasn’t even a nurse came and watched me do my shot (the regular nurse was gone) and she MADE me do it 5 inches from my knee! Needless to say, it hurt so bad because the skin was so tight there. I almost cried and I never cry. I was so mad. I was only 8 so of course I did what she said because she was in charge and I was taught to respect my elders. I did try to tell her I dobt do it there but…anyway, I’ve had wonderful people in my life who’ve understood I know what I’m doing.
I know that I am replying a little late, but heres a funny story. I was diagnosed with t1d when I was two, and throughout my years of school (I am a senior now!) I have had a ridiculous amount of nurses trying to tell me how to balance my blood sugars. When I was six or seven, maybe a year after I had gotten a pump, my school nurse accidentally gave me 3.5 units of insulin instead of 0.5 units. I was tiny, and the 3 units of insulin made a huge difference. She didn’t tell me she had done that until after she had given me all of the insulin (and because I was so young, I wouldn’t have realized otherwise). She made me eat about 70 carbs right then, and then my parents came to rescue me from her health office. And they gave me a huge dish of ice-cream. My blood sugars still went low. And, then the next day, I learned how to use my insulin pump. 
Hi! I am replying late also But… I recently moved (about a year ago) and when I did I was extremely shocked to learn that the new school where we moved to had no school nurses. The year before, when I was diagnosed, the school nurse didn’t know really how to administer insulin, but she knew what my range was and she wrote it all down in a book, so that I could see trends or try to make adjustments before I had a CGM. When I moved, the receptionist at my new school was to handle all diabetes care. She had no medical experience whatsoever and I was basically left to fend for my own. She really didn’t know a lot about diabetes, and though she was and is an amazing person (and I am still friends with her today) she didn’t know what she was doing. There was a “school nurse” who made rounds and was at the school on Tuesday mornings for 2 hours but that was it. No medical staff available… Just me and the receptionist. I was fine, I called my mom a lot, but it was slightly frustrating coming from a school where school nurses actually kinda knew what they were doing and at least existed.