[brian]

Low salaries, U.S. nursing shortage hurt recruiting


A cup of cold water, a 15-minute rest and gentle words fromschool nurse Heather Peterson settled 5-year-old Brettany Murdock's stomach and gother back to class.
But this time last year, officials said, Gemini Elementary in Melbourne Beach didn't have a health professional on staff and the kindergartner likely wouldhave left school for the day.
The office staff member who filled in during the semester-long nursing vacancy didn't have the expertise -- beyond a mother's instinct -- to assess students' medical conditions and make judgement calls.
"Children go home a lot more when a nurse isn't there," said Sherie Maksymow, a registered nurse with Brevard County Health Department who supervises Peterson and a dozen other school nurses.

Full Article: http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbc...601120339/1006

[MTBanRN]

True there are as little as 40 nurses graduating from schools as opposed to the hundreds that graduate in the corporate business setting but maybe this is good because then the industry will keep those who are truly interested in the profession as opposed to those only interested in the money. Yes, nurses should be well compensated for their jobs but how many of us wnat to be bothered with going behind those who do not care about what they are doing and redo their job. Not I.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Boy is that true. How MANY times I was called to bring my son home for no real reason, back when he was in the Public school system.

[MIA-RN1]

This is an issue that burns me. Here (Rochester NY) the school nurses were all county employees. There was usually an RN and/or and aide or lpn at almost every city school.
Then the county ran short on money and all the nurses were pulled from the city schools!! Principals were told they'd be administering meds etc.It was a total travesty. Now they have all-new nurses who work for a different agency, some of them are former county employees, many of them are not. So established routines, programs etc are all a mess. Its been 2 years and its still a trainwreck. The system, not the individual nurses. (Only some of them are trainwrecks )
I work in a Site Based Health Center in one of the largest city high schools here, and our agency is completely different from the school nurses in terms of hippa and services offered. We had a great MOU w/ the county, but the new agency doesn't allow it. Its ridiculous. We give a kid a physical and he has to sign a consent to share it w/ the nurse I am standing next to. Never mind that nurse needs that pe information for school records etc.
Oh I could just go on but I don't want to hijack the thread.

[DarthMom]

What a coincidence, I was just in my 9 year old's school today to bring him a change of pants (fell in a puddle...thank god...the lady who called home at first said "your son wet his pants" what!!!??? ) Anyway, my son is in a brevard school, in Palm Bay. I struck up a conversation with the school nurse while there today, since I am a wanna be nurse, starting school in the next few months, I thought I would be sociable. And I was surprised it wasn't an RN or a LPN, I was always under the impression all schools had a school nurse. This lady is an MA and travels all over the county, only visits the school occasionally!

With the awful pay for RNs here in florida, (someone at Wuestoff reported 13 an hour, RN!)I am really surprised they can't get more in at schools at 30-35k a yr. I call BS on the schools being unable to find nurses, they probably just aren't paying the 35 advertised in that article!

[Fun2Care]

The high school where I used to work (& graduated from) had a RN and a MA.

The school district that my children go to now that we moved, only hires LVNs now.

I'm sure before too long MA's will stock the nurses' offices, if anyone at all.



Very, very sad. I'd love to be a school nurse.....the best of both worlds.

[sharann]

In California they require school nurses to have a BSN from what I recall.

[Fun2Care]

Originally Posted by sharann

In California they require school nurses to have a BSN from what I recall.

That's how it was when I was in high school. It's all changed now....school districts are cutting costs at the expense of the wellness and safety of the children and staff, instead of cutting the Superintendent's, etc yearly wage.

[Praiser]

We'd All Be Worse Without a School Nurse !