Taking over the counter medication at school

[Anonymous]

My daughter is at an MCPS high school. She had cramps yesterday and went to the nurse to try to get some ibuprofen. She wasn't allowed to get it because she didn't have permission from me, she was told.

I'm trying to figure out what to do if this happens again. I only see a form for prescription medications on the MCPS website. Is she allowed to carry a bottle of Advil and a form of some sort so she can take it on her own?

[Anonymous]

No she can't carry her own. Consequences are severe for getting caught with any medication. There is a form but you might have to get it from the school.

[Anonymous]

Someone posted a kid got expelled from one APS elementary school for zero tolerance - asprin meds left in book bag.

[Anonymous]

We've been told to use the same form for prescription and OTC medicine, both requiring a doctor's signature. It's 525-13, here: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/525-13.pdf

Be sure you send in an unopened bottle.

Our cluster permits self-carrying for non controlled substances, and only discourages it for ES kids, so you should be in the clear.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yikes. I guess I'll call the school next week. So odd how they can drive themselves to school and cannot take an Advil. I can't believe a doctor would need to sign for her to be able to take it.

[Anonymous]

Form allows for parent sig for OTC and Dr sig for scripts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've been told to use the same form for prescription and OTC medicine, both requiring a doctor's signature. It's 525-13, here: http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/forms/pdf/525-13.pdf

Be sure you send in an unopened bottle.

Our cluster permits self-carrying for non controlled substances, and only discourages it for ES kids, so you should be in the clear.

My DD is in ES. She gets migraines. The school nurse gave me the form to have her ped fill out so she could give her the children's ibuprofin that I provided.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, it's much easier for them to obtain illegal drugs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately, it's much easier for them to obtain illegal drugs.

There is no requirement to store illegal drugs at the nurses office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Form allows for parent sig for OTC and Dr sig for scripts.

Our ES nurse would not allow this. (Maybe it's different in HS or for older kids?) She showed me on the back of the form where it says this:

1. No medication will be administered in school or during school-sponsored activities without the parent’s/
guardian’s written authorization and a written physician order. This includes both prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, public school rules are bullshit - there's zero critical thinking. I just told my kid to wrap 2 Tylenol in a tissue and if she needs them, to go into a bathroom stall to take them so nobody sees.

So the nurse would have 168 bottles of the exact same Tylenol lined up in the locked medicine cabinet, one for each student whose parents and doctors have jumped through the hoops to make it kosher for their kids to take 2 at school? That's ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

It's not just public schools. It seems to be the private schools, too. It's insane. Over-the-counter drugs are BY DEFINITION drugs that do not require a doctor ("learned intermediary"). Whether a kid can have an OTC drug is 100% up to the parents and no one else. So why the hell should the school require me to get my pediatriciation to approve it?

Probably relatedly, I have recently discovered that some schools (including my kid's new private school) require that we have the pediatrician complete a "preparticipation physical evaluation" as a condition of participating in phys ed and school sports. What on Earth is that about? My kid is 7 years old and she isn't allowed to run around without her doctor's permission? I find this an outrageous intrusion into the parents' domain, not to mention an utter waste of parents' and doctors' time.

[Anonymous]

That's bureaucracy for you.

[Anonymous]

It may actually be a state law. My daughter has gone to Girl Scout camps in both MD and VA, and we always have to have a doctor sign the form for OTC allergy meds at the MD one, but not the VA one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No she can't carry her own. Consequences are severe for getting caught with any medication. There is a form but you might have to get it from the school.

But lots of people do it anyway.