[Praiser]

What about school nursing really drives you nuts ?

[glolilly]

The pay, lack of privacy and parents that knowingly send sick kids to school. The pay is the biggest though.

[Praiser]

Thanks for the reply Glolilly....you are always there for me !
I get so frustrated at times. Just lately especially.
Teacher's who don't respect my position, students who keep getting sent back to the clinic when they are not sick. Staff members who think I am the authority on "poop" in the building....come on....poop in your pants, poop on your shoe, poop on the bathroom walls is not a medical emergency !!
I cannot sew the hem on a students pants, I cannot fix your glasses and yes, I am entitled to a lunchtime just like the rest of you.

Whew......thanks' for hearing me out. Would anyone else like to "vent" !!!!

[bluepenguin]

I hear ya on alot of what you are saying. Except the poop part, I haven't been asked to take care of poop on a shoe or wall, ect. I would say "cleaning staff" or "tell them to wipe off there shoe".

Anyway, but the lunch thing....grrr. I get 20 mins and I lock up my office so I can be in peace and be social with the teachers who eat at that time. But the main ofice receptionist is such a freak out type of person. She'll come running down saying someone needs their med and it will be a student who doesn't have a med at school they just want tylenol. I tell her all the time ask what med they mean, if they say inhaler, insulin, ect fine come get me. But "I need a tylenol" thats not up to them to determine for starters and also they can wait 15 mins. And then she came in one day because a 6th grader needed a pad and I said her is my key can you get her one and she was like "well you need to give her pants or something cause its all over her" Well thanks for mentioning that part. I go into the hall and the poor thing is standing there in tears. BLAH!

Ok, then there are the teachers who send the same kids down everyday for stupid things just because they don't want that kid in class. So they let the kid say his head hurts or he bumped his hand on the desk or twisted his ankle in football on Tuesday and its now friday. grrrr.

The worst part for me though is its an urban school. Lots of troubled middle schoolers (and don't get me wrong, I love my kids alot) but the school lacks a sense of controll and that scares me. But I do it for the kids and I know I have helped and taught alot of them. It can just be really crazy sometimes and I wish people understood more about school nursing in general.

Thanks for the venting page....like I said most of time I love it, you just get those days....

[Praiser]

Hello Bluepenguin !
I am like you...I love the job, but some days I get very frustrated with educators. They have no clue what I do. I try to exercise lots of patience, but they don't bend ! I've been doing this a long time now, but it seems to be less and less respect from all fronts. I guess it's a sign of the times.
Pretty sad huh?

[michigooseBSN]

Mostly I love my job but it seems like I'm the "when you don't want to do it send the kid to the nurse" person. Yesterday it was the "stepped in dog poop" and this morning it was a child with "I've got sun screen all over my backpack". Needless to say, I sent that one back for the teacher to deal with. LOL

[TXNurseBSN]

I too love my job. I can't see myself working in the hospital setting ever again. I guess what annoys me the most is kids who are in my office at 8:00 (School starts at 8:30) and tell ask me to take their temp because mom is in the car waiting to know what it is! I tell them to go get mom because we need to have a little talk!!

On the flip side, what makes me the happiest is seeing that kid who really needed an inhaler or glasses get one because of my persistence!!Therefore, things even out!