[Nursinghaze]

I've been a nurse for a few years now and am wanting a change. I'm interested in school nursing. However, I can not, for the life of me, find any resources, websites or job postings anywhere on the internet. I've looked under public school websites, monster.com, careerbuilder.com, any and all job posting websites. What am I doing wrong? I find it extremely hard to believe there's not one opening for a school nurse in the entire state of Colorado. Do you guys have any suggestions? What did you do to find your job?

[afl123]

Try looking in your specific school district website or nursing staffing agencies

[bergren]

For information about school nursing: www.nasn.org

For Colorado school nursing: http://www.coloradoschoolnurse.org/

They ahve some area reps listed: http://www.coloradoschoolnurse.org/area_reps.htm You could find one clse and ask how job openings are communicated.

In some parts of the country, openings are hard to find as many do not leave a school nurse job when they find one, and often they will hire a person who has been subbing for them without posting an opening. Call your local districts about openings and getting on the sub list.

[cxg174]

In PA I had the same problem until I got on the state board of education website. There is a specific way that the schools recruit employees and once in a while they are in the paper, but not often. It is very hard to get a school nurse job- I have known subs who have looked for 10 or more years for a job as a regular school nurse. That is why I initially gave up on it, but after some major career instability has developed in my area of home health I decided to revisit school nursing. I suggest you sub as a way into the schools, and get experience in an area that they value such as Peds or ER. Home health is a good route especially if you see pediatric patients. It also allows you some freedom to sub in the schools as you generally can set your own schedule.

[MelissaJaneRN]

All above advise is great. I advise going into your local school district office and asking about becoming a school nurse substitute for your district. If your law requires a school nurse in every building, like Delaware, subs are a must. Also check the websites for each school district that is close enough for you to drive to and look at their job openings.

You get to know if you really like school nursing that way, and get to know fellow school nurses who can fill you in on job openings. In our tiny state, all the school nurses get together 3 times a year for dinners and conferences/meetings. You get to know whose retiring and leaving also, so you can fight for their job :P I went to these dinners as a sub, they dont care as long as you pay and as a sub- you are very much valued by the school nurses!

In some states, school nurses work through the public health department. Other states, school nurses work for the schools themselves and are hired and paid by the state that way. And school nurses also work through local hospitals and are hired and paid by them.
So its worth finding out how school nurses work, through who, in your state so you know where to look for job openings.

Good luck!

[rmartinez91]

Any school nurses that are LVN/LPN out there?

[naoslaben]

Hi, I just started the orientation for the school nurse position. It seems like there is so much paperwork that needs to be filled out. Any NYC nurses that can tell me what is there day like? how much paperwork do you actually have to take care of?Any one who works in private school?

[Snookie]

I would also suggest checking out any private schools in your area. Many private schools have their own nurses who are not part of the local school district and as such may have a harder time recruiting nurses and substitutes.

[cxg174]

Originally Posted by naoslaben

Hi, I just started the orientation for the school nurse position. It seems like there is so much paperwork that needs to be filled out. Any NYC nurses that can tell me what is there day like? how much paperwork do you actually have to take care of?Any one who works in private school?

I am not from NYC but I will tell you any time you work for a large bureaucracy such as a school you will have tons of paperwork. In health care in general we answer to the government - a huge bureaucracy- for much of our licensing regulations so we always have paperwork. It is a necessary evil. I have logs for everything you can imagine, forms galore, and regulations on top of regulations. The good thing about it is there is structure. There is a controlled way of doing things. Being alone as a school nurse can be overwhelming, but luckily we have standards and procedures to go by.

You have to do care plans on students who need them, routine screenings, parent notification letters, health records, emergency cards, forms for medications, logs, accident reports, standing orders, and whatever else you might need. Most things should be in place already.

Relax, there are great school nurse listservs out there to help you. Contact other school nurses in the area too to see if they have a local group or organization. It will come together. I started last March and I am already feeling much more together and organized.

Congrats on the job!