How do most schools handle the administration of daily medication, particularly ADHD meds which are a controlled substance. Do the kids have to go to the health center every day to take them or does the nurse bring them to meals? Just curious what the general procedure seems to be. Thanks!
My D had to go to the nurse daily to get her medication. She was at the masters school.
@skieurope - I meant to post this in the parents page. Would you mind to move it? Thanks!
Moved.
I can’t imagine any school where that would be the case.
From my experience, prescription medications are kept with the student, who is responsible for following the dosage instructions with the exception of psychotropic medications (including those for ADHD) which is kept by the health center and dispensed weekly.
After touring a few schools now, I’ve noticed that sometimes the health centers are on the edge of campus, not very close to the dorms. It could be challenging for a kid to get to some of them early in the morning each day before class if that’s the way it’s done. Just trying to think ahead to how it would work.
FWIW - you have to go to health center for certain drugs but others the student can keep in the room. I don’t know about the prescriptions for ADD, but we know a few kids that have to have monitoring and follow-up with highly regulated (high maintenance) acne drug - Accutane. Your school handbook should have this listed - but if you are applying, you can check online to see if there is the handbook accessible or call the health center directly. We did speak to a couple of nurses about how they work with asthma meds and inhalers during the process with complete anonymity. Everyone was very helpful and nobody made me feel Iike the helicopter parent I actually am 8-|
@busymommyof4 at Mercersburg, the health center has a “kiosk” in the dining hall for kids who take daily medications. They know that compliance would falter if kids had to haul out to the health center before or after lunch, so the nurses come to the dining hall and have a window counter set up to dispense(where the faculty lounge used to be); the kids sign their names for compliance reporting back to parents. Controlled substances like ADHD meds absolutely cannot be kept in a student’s room, so they are filled by the health center (or by you and mailed directly to the health center) and dispensed by the nurses. Medications like asthma inhalers and BCP can be kept in the student’s room. My son was able to keep his accutane in his room as well, since he took it multiple times a day and it is not a controlled substance (legally). The health center knew he was on it and it was “registered” to him so that if a room check turned up the medication, everyone knew he had it.
(They also have the kiosk open at bfast too…)
The locations and policies differ a lot among schools. Definitely call the health center to find out. Some will give morning meds at breakfast, others require students to go to health center in morning. Some require students to go out at night to get bedtime meds, and it can be a long cold walk in New England! Others have locked cabinets in dorms and let dorm parents or other staff distribute nighttime meds, so that’s easier. One school we looked at had a health center that was closed on weekends (on call only) so they let dorm parents give meds on weekends. These rules can apply to psych meds or to a broader group of meds, and that also varies by school. I’ve looked at the meds policies at 6 schools and none are the same!
Thank you all! I did ask during our interviews at a few schools, but the AOs didn’t always seem clear on the setup. I called one health center this afternoon and they explained their system to me. It sounds like something we can work with!
I bet DS wishes he had a kiosk for his ADHD meds! What a great idea! They are super strict about controlled substances — have to take it in front of the nurse. The school handles the prescriptions — I don’t have to do anything September-May. They will also let parents know if compliance is poor; DS said he missed a couple of days last year but not enough for us to get a call.
You will probably receive and be required to sign the school’s policy on controlled substances.
I can answer for Exeter. They have a specific policy on psychotropic medications (basically anything used to treat ADHD, anxiety or depression). Medication is stored at the health center, and students are given 1 week allotments, which they are allowed to keep in their rooms in a medication lock box. There is a nurse specifically assigned to manage this process (who is both lovely and very much on top of things), and she coordinates refills (done by a staff member), management over breaks, paperwork and also checks in with the students when they pick up their meds. If a student fails to adhere to the policy (weekly pick up, keeping the meds locked up), they are switched to daily medication pick up.
On a related note, we’ve been very happy with the student health center so far. DS has managed to need care for a wide variety of issues (significant sports injury, upper respiratory infection, issue with orthodontics, medication management, counseling support during a rough patch), and everyone he’s dealt with has been more than competent, kind, responsive and - importantly - communicative with us, the parents. I had some serious concerns about how things would go, and have been very pleasantly surprised.