Bedside nurse or school nurse? Opinions please.

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ER.

I was just offered a position as a school nurse for a very large middle school, 1244 students in grades 5-8 and roughly 80 kids come through the clinic each day. I initially began looking for a new job because my current one requires day/night rotating every two weeks and not only am I not sleeping at all anymore, I cannot stay awake on the drive home at ALL. I drive 45 minutes and fall asleep constantly the whole way home. Night shift is also wreaking havoc on my heart with lots of palpitations and some arrhythmias. With that background, here are the pros/cons of each position.

School nurse:

Pros = Summers/holidays/weekends off, school day is 7:30-2:30, no more night shift or 12 hour shifts. I'd also be taking on a new challenge working with diabetic children (six in the school right now) and a special needs group of children with complex medical issues. We also take on a research project on a topic of interest to educate staff. on.

Cons = It's an hour commute, have to pay union dues, and slightly less pay at $47,000/year (but equal or more if you factor in only working 9 months out the year), working 5 days a week instead of 3, and I'd be giving up my fiance and my one day off together.

Bedside nurse:

Pros = Helpful coworkers, lots of clinical skills put to use, I get to work with babies, self schedule, potential for overtime, and I love what I do.

Cons = 45 minute drive to work including tolls and two major highways (bad when you fall asleep driving!), working 2 out of 3 major holidays, rotating days/nights every two weeks, falling asleep driving on the way home after every night shift.

I'd still stay at my bedside job per diem if I choose the school nurse job. So knowing all of the above, which one would you choose? My family is telling me to go for the school nursing position, but it's hard to pull the trigger when bedside nursing is all I've known and I always pictured myself as a bedside nurse. I'd love to get the opinions of fellow nurses. Thank you!

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You have to make the final decision yourself, but why not give the school nursing a try? Your family would probably enjoy seeing you working a "regular" schedule and your health might improve. As an experienced nurse, you should be able to find another hospital position if you don't like school nursing, and maybe could find a position that isn't overly detrimental to your health.

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Specializes in ICU, PICU, School Nursing, Case Mgt.

THis is a very good question and one that you and only you can answer.

I have many years of clinical--PICU ,ICU, NICU, Peds, etc experience. I also was a school nurse for 3 years.

For me, the 3 twelve hour shifts and the fact that I worked nights (by choice) were the overwhelming factor as to why I left school nursing to return to the hospital.

After the novelty wore off, I also felt like there was NO challenge in the school. I did get involved with many of the kids and advocated for them over and over again. But most days were spent trying to figure out who was really sick and who wanted to get out of class for a while.....also, the parents can REALLY get on your nerves.

THere is so much to be said for working 3 nights and having 4 days off...I have done that for so many years--and I never truely feel like I am working full time.

I think the school gig is fine if 1. you don't mind working 5 days a week--and the time off is very nice--of course you're not paid for it either...2. Don't want to be too challenged at work.

But--try it, you may like it and you can continue to do your bedside thing when school is out...you can always return.

s

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Specializes in Critical Care/Coronary Care Unit,.

If the nightshift thing is affecting your health, you should stop immediately. Take the school nurse job. If you don't like it, you can always get another hospital job since you have experience. Definitely stay at the hospital per-diem to keep your foot in the door of a hospital...makes it easier to apply to any hospital. You could always do the school nurse thing til a day shift position opens up somewhere else. Flex shifts have been found to be the worst on the body...even worse than just being a nightshifter. As a school nurse, you'd be helping those children in the meantime. I'm still young and I don't remember ever seeing a nurse at any of my schools. Good luck.

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Specializes in cardiology.

Sweetie it sounds like to me you need to take the school nurse position. Just d/t the sleeping problems. You know as well as I do when the body does not get enough sleep things start happening. The body heals itself during sleep. You would do good to remember that. School nurses are awesome and have to be ready in a split second. I'm sure it would be nice to have a life again. Good luck with your decision. :nurse:

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I am in my 3rd year of school nursing. I don't like working in the world of education - if I were younger, I would go back to the hospital. School nursing is a LOT less stress, but I really don't feel like my presence is valued or respected. Yes, the hours and time off are nice, but not as great a benefit as I thought it would be. The pay is less, of course--you can always give it a try and go back if you don't like it. Just like bedside nursing, it's not for everyone..and that is the great thing about nursing --if you don't like what you are doing, there is always something else you can try. Good Luck!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, ER.
I am in my 3rd year of school nursing. I don't like working in the world of education - if I were younger, I would go back to the hospital. School nursing is a LOT less stress, but I really don't feel like my presence is valued or respected. Yes, the hours and time off are nice, but not as great a benefit as I thought it would be. The pay is less, of course--you can always give it a try and go back if you don't like it. Just like bedside nursing, it's not for everyone..and that is the great thing about nursing --if you don't like what you are doing, there is always something else you can try. Good Luck!

Schoolnurse, can you tell me what specifically you don't like? Why do you fnd the time off not as good as you thought it would be? Why do you feel you aren't valued? Is it your particular school environment or somethng else? Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in School Nursing, Ambulatory Care, etc..

I am in my 3rd year of school nursing and I love it! Every school deserves a nurse and every child deserves a good school nurse. The matter of getting respect for what you do in the school setting depends on the front office staff more than anything else. If you have administration that stands behind you and supports you, you will have more respect from the staff. The time off if fanstastic! I love the fact that I get to spend all of Thanksgiving week and two weeks at Christmas with my kids! My kids love it too! :) Summer is so much fun because, again, I get to spend it with my kids and not telling them how sorry I am because I have to work. Also, there have been so many times in the past three years that I have really made a difference in the life of a child - I don't like the path to it because it usually envoles calling child protective services or getting tough with a parent - but the result is fantastic! Just yesterday I had a child (Jr High) come in a hug me. I sent her to the hospital two days ago with a concussion. Also, I had another student say "Miss everybody says your mean, but your so nice!" Completely made my day.

That's why I love school nursing, but you need to make your own decision. :)

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Specializes in Med-surg, OB, school nursing.

I've done both. I left a job I loved with crappy hours to do school nursing and found a job with great hours that I didn't like nearly as much. I would recommend if they'll let you to shadow a school nurse for a day or two so you can see first-hand what you'll be doing and then if you think you'll like it then I definately recommend going per diem and giving the school nursing a try and that way if you find it isn't for you after a school year then maybe you can go back to what you were doing. You could always try different hospitals too with different schedules. Some absolutely love school nursing and others, like me, think it's ok. I am bored a lot and not because I'm not busy, because I am, but because I don't feel myself challenged. There's just nothing exciting about school nursing for me and I sort of feel like an outsider being the only medical person in the building. That's just me though and I think a lot depends on the school system. Good luck with your decision!

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Specializes in ICU, PICU, School Nursing, Case Mgt.
I've done both. I left a job I loved with crappy hours to do school nursing and found a job with great hours that I didn't like nearly as much. I would recommend if they'll let you to shadow a school nurse for a day or two so you can see first-hand what you'll be doing and then if you think you'll like it then I definately recommend going per diem and giving the school nursing a try and that way if you find it isn't for you after a school year then maybe you can go back to what you were doing. You could always try different hospitals too with different schedules. Some absolutely love school nursing and others, like me, think it's ok. I am bored a lot and not because I'm not busy, because I am, but because I don't feel myself challenged. There's just nothing exciting about school nursing for me and I sort of feel like an outsider being the only medical person in the building. That's just me though and I think a lot depends on the school system. Good luck with your decision![/quote]

Dear Luvmy,

You hit the nail on the head...It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I really didn't like school nursing. I had to hear "wow, your hours are great" (I like 12 hour shifts) "you don't have to work weekends" (I exclusively worked weekend for years by choice) "you don't have to be on call" (call was voluntary at my hospital and I used to average about an extra $400.00 per month) "you work from 8:00am to 4:30pm" (I like working nights)"you have all of that time off" (we didn't get paid for it--so for 3 months=no paycheck) "you don't have to worry about any real emergencies" (I love running codes...) and unfortunately, I did have a few of those at school....

Anyway, this was partially in jest--or at least light hearted, because it happens to be the truth...

and except for the few and far between real emergencies it was BORING....(and yes, I was busy too)

but no challenge...I felt like you could pretty much "phone it in".

and, had I stayed longer, I would probably be in prison now, there were several parents I contemplated maiming or worse on a daily basis.

Good luck

former school RN :D

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Dear RN4WeeOnes

I can echo some of the same sentiments as SWS RN and luvmykidz=I am not challenged, I am bored, and I feel like an outsider.. add to that : the schedule isn't so important to me because my children are grown. Why I do not feel valued or respected: the administrators on the district level micromanage us, principals and teachers, some are great...others, well..they don't understand what we do, they don't see what we do, and they complain because they think we "don't do anything". They complain about having to take time to accommodate the things we are mandated to do (screening, training, etc.), they will send us kids with broken shoe laces, or pants that are falling down, then get upset because broken-shoelace has to wait for the vomiting child we are tending to and has missed recess. They continually do not do what I ask regarding schedules for tending to health issues. They disregard safety concerns because they think they know better than I do. Sometimes they are really hard to take.. We are on a teacher's contract, but are not provided substitutes, we have to cover for each other. I miss having peers. Some parents really make me crazy.... On a scale of 1-10, to me, school nursing is about a 4. The best thing about it is the kids, I LOVE them. I feel like sometimes, we CAN and DO make a difference. They make all the stuff I just complained about a little less important... Wow, what a vent ...

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

I've been a schooll nurse for 7 years. I never planned on persuing this, i just kind of fell into it by initially taking a part time job at a special ed school. Later on i moved to a publis school and that came with a new set of challenges. It worked out for me, but everyone is different.

No, it is not as exciting as bedside nursing. The kids try to get away with things. There are staff members that are conviced they know more than you. There are administrators that quickly forget that you are trying to protect your professional license.

On the other hand, you really get to make a positive impact on a child's life. You'd be amazed how big a quick candid talk can impact a child that is on the verge of making some pretty big mistakes. This week alone i feel like i made large strides with 2 students looking down the barrel of an eating disorder. The kids can and do test the waters with me, but also they are overall a great group of kids.

It may or may not be for you. No harm in giving it a try. I never thought it would be for me.

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