No subs and I'm sick!

Flare, ASN, BSN · Mar 1, 2017

i work public school and have to find my own subs. Even when i broke my arm i made arrangements and then still was only out one day to see the ortho. The devil on my shoulder wants me to take a sick day - just once and leave them in a lurch so i get my point across of needing more subs / different contingency plan - but I haven't yet.

Farawyn · Mar 1, 2017

They have an agency that they call, but the GOOD subs are local, and I have to find them.

MrNurse(x2), ADN · Mar 1, 2017

My wife subs for me, but if we both have to be out, the Asst. Principal takes care of my T1D and meds and the teachers revert to old days pre-nurse. Love my staff, flexibility is their strong suit.

Farawyn · Mar 1, 2017

My wife subs for me, but if we both have to be out, the Asst. Principal takes care of my T1D and meds and the teachers revert to old days pre-nurse. Love my staff, flexibility is their strong suit.

Yes!

We do have to remember that these are not patients, they are students.

Let them go without a nurse for a day and see how glad they are to have you back!

allnurses Guide · Mar 1, 2017

I know your pain. My director alienated our subs and then made no effort to find a new one.

When the other nurse (with whom I job share) got ill, we jointly decided I wouldn't cover. There's a lot more to the story, but they now use an agency (which I had to find and set up! What BS). They are still too stupid to hire a regular sub. They treated the ones we had like crap.

They hounded me to find a regular sub... sorry... that's their job. I did ask all the nurses I knew (only becuse I thought they might enjoy the easy money) but

the pay wasn't worth their effort

We got fed up when we realized they couldn't care less if we had back up. Everyone else was calling in with hangnails and gas :sniff: and the only two nurses had to still come in and wear masks because we were truly sick! No one else could do our job, so yeah! They think this is okay, I guess, ya know 'cause we're martyrs... not!

Maybe you need to force their hand. We did. We had to make them panic before they took any action.

DEgalRN · Mar 1, 2017

It took me having to call off last year and the school CLOSING (long story, but they ended up with an early dismissal because they could not find a sub) for my admins to get hooked up with an agency in addition to the locals they call first. I try very hard not to call off and try very hard to give as much notice as possible because I do recognize it's a hardship for them, but my health is also important.

I agree, it might be time to put them in a lurch (because my hill to die on is that it is not your or my responsibility to find coverage, that's what HR is for!). What good does it do if you end up passing along a stomach bug to the students?

I hope you feel better quickly, though! :)

WineRN · Mar 1, 2017

I'm a part of a pretty big district, and I have an absolutely amazing director of health services so we have 2 float nurses on staff to cover absences as well as an agency if those those nurses are already covering other schools or sick themselves. One of the float nurses stayed with me my whole first week to help me get on my feet.

Our director has done research showing how much money it saves the district by having these two nurses instead of paying for the agency/relying on admins. I think it's awesome

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Mar 1, 2017

One of the problems is that it's hard to expect people who sub to be waiting for that call that usually never comes. You need to have available hours to build a solid pool. I think districts that have a float position (if no one is sick they can help out on various things) are smart to do so.

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Mar 2, 2017

One of the problems is that it's hard to expect people who sub to be waiting for that call that usually never comes. You need to have available hours to build a solid pool. I think districts that have a float position (if no one is sick they can help out on various things) are smart to do so.

You have to be large enough district to do this, though.

In MA, I know the Boston Public School system employs a few float/sub RNs. It is a full time, benefited gig. These nurse fill in at school when the regular nurse is out (which with the number of schools is a usual day) or helps with other tasks like screenings or other admin tasks. It actually sounds like an interesting job.

In my smaller charter, I have one friend which a flexible schedule that I call in to sub for me for a planned day out (I plan with her schedule), and have a back-up "no-nurse" sub plan. My district does have two buildings about 1 mile apart, each with a full time nurse, so if one of us is out without a sub, we have covered each other in emergency or med admin capacities, which is a luxury many school don't have.