For Schools and Medical Practioners
HEAD LICE TREATMENT PROGRAM FOR SCHOOL NURSES AND MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS
You’ve just discovered head lice on one of your students – now what?! Try not to panic! Below is information on how to effectively manage a head lice outbreak, as well as tips on how to prevent a re-infestation!
When you’re a school nurse, one of the “ickiest” problems you deal with is head lice. It can spread so innocently and quickly, and no person is immune! Head lice can attack anybody! It’s no wonder you find yourself in the “front-lines” of the battle with head lice.
As a school nurse, you are often detective, police, judge, jury and prosecutor of head lice in children. Sometimes it can truly seem like a loosing battle. We have the information, treatment and head lice prevention tips to help you! As we like to say “A clean head in a clean bed.”
The first step is to notify parents of a possible infestation. Having parents check and treat their child’s head before you have to look can help you concentrate on controlling the situation. Our Head Lice Parent Notification Letter is designed for you to give parents the “heads-up” and the tools to identify, treat and prevent lice.
Help Staff and Parents to Help You!
The next step is to educate fellow staff members and parents on what lice are, and what lice aren’t. Giving parents specific details on what and how to treat and clean is paramount to successfully controlling a head lice outbreak. Also advise other staff members who have close contact with students.
- Lice are small, grayish-white, wingless bugs, about the size of a sesame seed.
- They cannot jump or hop, and they do not have wings.
- Lice are easily spread through head-to-head contact.
- They have been known to spread quickly in communal situations like daycare centers, schools, nursing homes and summer camps.
- 8-12 million people a year get head lice. Lice do not discriminate – anyone is susceptible!
Your job as a school nurse is to detect, then give parents the tools to treat and prevent. Below is a link to a letter template we encourage you to use when you need to advise parents that their child has head lice.
Additional Information can be found in our Information Library
Your Battle Plan for Head Lice Treatment and Prevention!
Using Lice Ice as both a treatment and a daily preventative can really help keep children free of lice. Below is a quick 5-step program for you to follow:
- Study our head lice and nits photos to see exactly what lice and eggs (nits) look like.
- When doing your Back-to-School head check, make a note of the amount of “outgrowth,” or how far down the hair shaft are the eggs. This can tell you how long the student has had the problem.
- Download the Head Lice Parent Notification Letter.
Make sure parents know you have specific information for them. Parents who use Lice Ice™ properly on a fresh infestation have the best chance for getting the eggs out. Using a chemical or pesticide based treatment first is not recommended! You may have to manually remove eggs previously treated with these products. Lice Ice works best on a fresh infestation. - The biggest challenge for you as a nurse is getting compliance with all parents to do the cleaning required to prevent a head lice re-infestation. Every student with lice must be treated, and their living environments treated. All persons living with an infested person must be checked and treated if found with lice. Human head lice are not passed onto or from animals.
- Children must be taught how to prevent the spread of head lice. Tell children not to share head coverings such as helmets hats or hair accessories. Hats, scarves and mittens should be placed in the sleeves of their coats, then coats put in back pack and zipped shut. Then place in lockers.
- Use Lice Ice as a daily preventative, either straight out of the tube in place of daily styling gel, or diluted 1:4 in water on wet or dry hair as a final detangling spray.
As a professional nurse, you spent years in school learning. It’s a shame so much of your time is spent dealing with head lice. Additionally, you are often caught between parents who can’t control the problem, and school administrators who are pressuring you to keep attendance up. Using Lice Ice is an economical way to treat and prevent head lice. One tube of Lice Ice is far less expensive that the amount of state and federal dollars lost to absenteeism.
Use our website as your main source of information on lice for everyone involved…parents, staff and students!
Call 1-866-274-9060 for additional information, or e-mail us at nurse@liceice.com.
Lice Ice is available to schools, PTA’s and other tax-exempt entities. Not for re-sale in these instances. Please call or e-mail for more information