School Nursing

MrNurse(x2), ADN · May 5, 2017

I wanted to keep my sons in their private school when my wife was out of work. There was no nurse and I approached them with a work for tuition proposal. It was a great challenge to develop the position while learning what the position entails. I love the students and the autonomy, I hate the isolation from healthcare workers and the helicopter parents. This has become my true love in nursing. I would volunteer for this if I could afford it.

Finally2008 · May 5, 2017

I am going to be very honest---my interest began with the schedule! I mean, who doesn't want to have a school schedule with weekends, holidays, and summers off?? I also love kids and always loved my days volunteering at school when my children were in elementary school.

For me, I actually got the first job for which I applied (Only by a true miracle of God!) I had done some clinic subbing and truthfully, that is the best way to see if you even like the job and it can sometimes give you an "in" if you make connections with the principals and the area consulting nurses (in our district).

The most rewarding part of my job is feeling that I make a difference in a child's life--sometimes all they need is a hug and some encouragement (and so many in my school don't get that at home). I have had more kids tell me that I am their "school mommy". I also love being an advocate for the students and families in their healthcare. As an example, I had a student come in this morning so excited because I had helped her mother get Medicaid for her and provided referrals for healthcare providers , which enabled mom to get her much needed appointments to see an eye specialist, an allergy & asthma specialist (she has severe asthma and has not been followed by any doctor for 2 years), and a dentist. The joy on her face was incredible!

There are several difficult parts of the job...One is difficult parents. There is nothing worse than sitting with a child with breathing difficulty, wheezing, and coughing and wondering whether you are going to have to call 911 because mom has refused to send in an inhaler and tells me "She has asthma, she's gonna cough and wheeze." Knowing that a simple breathing treatment (or a steroid when it gets as bad as it does for this little one) could potentially save her life and mom doesn't want to come pick up her child is so challenging for me. I understand having to be at work---I truly do--but not at the expense of your child's health....The other difficult part is being totally on your own without someone else as backup (watch the threads on thsi board and you'll see the topic "Did I do the Right thing?" all the time. There is no charge nurse or physician to turn to when you need to make quick decisions in a crisis.

All in all, I have been thrilled to have spent the past 4 years doing this. The first year is the most challenging as you learn to balance your role as a nurse in a school setting. At this point, I have no plans to make a change for many years!

This morning, one of my sweet students (who comes in for a hug and to write an inspiration quote on my white board each morning) and I were looking for a good quote for Career Day. The quote I chose was "Choose a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life." That sums it up for me as a school nurse!

moreoreo · May 5, 2017

(1) I moved from one town/hospital to another to get married. I loved my first hospital. All three hospitals I interviewed at and got offers for in my new town, I was not impressed by, and the one I worked at for a few months made me completely miserable (even as the best option of the three). High patient acuities (patients assigned to obs--my unit--that we would have to push to be ICU bc we knew they warranted it, sometimes still arriving at our unit only to then have to move), staffing issues, disinterested physicians, disinterested management, an overall apathy, etc. drove me to look outside the hospital setting. My husband suggested school nursing bc he thought I would like it, he thought it would be "cute" :sarcastic: , and he knew the schedule would be much better for our future family.

(2) It was somewhat difficult for me to find a school nurse position as many schools in my state are seeking BSN/CSN prepared nurses (I have a non nursing Bachelor's degree in SPANISH which helps my school a lot!! but I understand. and am working towards both), however I was hired a month into my search.

(3) Most rewarding--the students! The hopefulness of caring for youth. The autonomy and ability to make the job what I want it to be. Collaboration with a school staff that genuinely cares for its students and the success of the school. Most difficult--the responsibility and liability. The fact that hospital nursing does not transfer at all to this setting. You kind of have to teach yourself and feel through the beginning quite blindly. Thank God for this forum as it has been a little light for me in these early months. Luckily, I work with a health aide, but as MrNurse said, it can be difficult to be isolated from other nurses. Especially in an emergency, with everyone looking at me, while I have only been in this role for 3 months. The fear of the worst happening is a big burden but the wellbeing of the students is worth my worry. (The attitudes and delayed responses of physicians in my second hospital was NOT.)

kidzcare · May 5, 2017

The schedule was the draw. I was recently divorced and had moved into my parents' house with my 3 kids. I knew that I was going to be moving out as soon as I was able. I was working 3-11 (which was usually closer to midnight or 1am) and getting up at 7 to get my oldest ready for school and putting her on the bus. Spending a bit of time with my 2 preschoolers and then heading to work. My parents were getting the kids home from school, fixing dinner, helping with homework, and putting to bed. I knew that I could not continue like that. And that when I moved out it would be next to impossible to find affordable child care for that schedule. And the childcare in the summer would take up so much of my income. So I looked for a school nurse job and found one that I stayed at for 4 years.

The schedule and the benefits will keep me in the schools forever. The pay cut was hard (and harder after my ex stopped paying child support) but I am very good at budgeting and kept another job for a while (still PRN there).

cooties_are_real · May 5, 2017

I got my start when my kids started school. I sub'd for the district for 1 year. Then the year after that, I got a call from the district nurse. She was a take charge type of gal. She called me and said, "this is what you are going to do.... and be here at 745 in the morning." Alrighty, then. She told me at that time they were going to hire an LVN and she wanted me for the job. That was how my school nursing career started. The biggest incentive for me was I had the same schedule as my kids and I was able to attend my kids functions and parties. That has been over 10 years ago.

The most rewarding thing to me is the impact I can make on a student's life. I love to see my "kids" being productive citizens once they leave my campus, but my heart hurts when I find they take a wrong turn. The most difficult part depends on the day I guess. Some days the parents are difficult, some days its the kids themselves. Each day brings it's own challenges, so you have to roll with it. I love my job!!!

MHDNURSE · May 5, 2017

My job actually fell into my lap very unexpectedly. I had my son in 2005 and had just moved to Boston so I decided to stay home with him, rather then go through the stress of finding a new job and child care in a city where I knew no one and had no family. I had my daughter two years later so stayed home with both. They then started at a local preschool a couple mornings a week. The school ran a day camp in the Summers and they asked if I wanted to be the nurse during the Summer. I started that gig and enjoyed and then started looking into school nursing once my son started K, but in my town, nurses rarely leave so there was only the opportunity to sub. It was too hard to sub with no advanced notice to arrange care for my little one so I ended up taking a job as a teacher in the infant room at the preschool where my kids had gone. I ended up working there for three years and finally got burnt out in the Spring of 2015. In mid-August of 2015 I got a text from one of the moms of a baby in my room asking if I "knew anyone who might be interested in a very part time school nurse position at a new Charter school". I totally jumped on it and started work two week later.

It has been a really great fit for me. I am blessed in that my school was brand new so ALL staff were new together and we have all been learning the ropes together. The hard part was having no one to mentor me or around to ask questions, but this forum has been a HUGE resource for me. My school grows by one grade per year so it has been helpful starting with only 125 kids my first year, growing to 250 this year and next Fall we will have 375.

I love the kids (most of them anyway) and the autonomy I have here. I have a few difficult parents. No helicopter parents (thankfully) I think because of the population I work with. My challenges are more compliance with immunizations, doctor's follow-ups, returning required paperwork, etc. Those are the things I don;t like about it. I am NOT a paperwork kind of person and in school nursing there is a LOT of it. But I wouldn't trade it for any other nursing job. The hours can't be beat (I work 9-1:30), I have a 15 minute commute, and I have time off frequently enough that I no longer feel the need to call out once in a blue moon for a mental health day, LOL.

KKEGS, MSN, RN · May 5, 2017

I decided to try school nursing after burning out in the NICU after 3 years. I worked a rotating day/night schedule, every 3rd weekend and every holiday because I was so low down on the seniority list. I was chronically sleep deprived and stressed out from my job and it was taking a toll on my marriage and my family. I had done a rotation with a school nurse in nursing school and filed it away as a specialty I would like to explore later. I went ahead and did what I needed to do to obtain a school nurse license in my state and started looking. A position became available in the district bordering my home district so I applied, interviewed, accepted and started in August 2016 while continuing to work PRN in NICUs around my area.

It's been an acquired taste for me. I've really struggled with some aspects of this job this year. The frustrations: unresponsive parents or just plain jerky parents (encountered one this morning who ranted and raved for 15 minutes), not understanding the ins and outs of the educational system and where exactly I fit in, feeling isolated because I'm the only nurse in the building, the almost constant flow of students in and out of the health office, not feeling like a "real" nurse sometimes, the paperwork (OMG the paperwork! You think charting in a hospital is bad? You have no idea!).

The awesome parts? The kids, hands down! Well most of them. Even the frequent fliers...most of the time. The team I work with (school psychs, principals, social workers, secretaries) are wonderful and supportive. And I must mention the schedule! I'm home every evening, weekend and holiday unless I choose to pick up a hospital shift. I got 11 days off at Christmas and I'm about to get 3 months off for summer break. Yes I work 40 hours a week and yes I go home exhausted some days but the stress is nothing like what I felt at the hospital 99% of the time.

I think depending where you live the jobs can be difficult to find because there just aren't that many of them. With school districts needing to slash their budgets they will sometimes target the health offices and try to replace school nurses/health aides with unlicensed personnel working under a LSN's license. Some districts employ only a single LSN because that is all they are required to do if the district is 1,000 kids or more. I'm lucky to be in a district that has 7 LSNs and we're getting an 8th LSN next year. But I'm interviewing on Monday for a district that only uses 3 LSNs and uses LPNs in the health offices. So every district does things differently.

ruby_jane, BSN, RN · May 5, 2017

School nursing is great if you dislike acute care/hospital nursing - I do. I hated the machines, and I hated that we spend so much time resuscitating at the end of life from chronic conditions that could have perhaps been prevented.

Ambulatory care is its own world. My assessment and history-taking skills are better than at any time in my nursing career...and I have had the luxury of time to develop nursing intuition - that sense that something is about to go terribly, horribly south. I don't miss working with doctors at all - but for the once a year when something happens that I have no treatment for and no orders, and I'm sitting with my hands on the kid praying that EMS gets here quickly.

My last gig was chasing infectious disease across two very large Texas counties. This position was a Godsend, and has allowed me to be on the same schedule as my kid from 6th-10th grade. I say two more years but I may stay longer.

In all the schools at which I interviewed (I had two interviews with DONs and three interviews at schools) the principal decided which nurse was the best fit. Which Be aware than non-health care providers play a significant role in how you get your job- but they can't play the same role in how you do your job.

I am not sure if this is an assignment of if you're looking to move careers. Good luck!

iggywench, BSN, RN · May 5, 2017

I am a former teacher, and really liked teaching, along with the school climate, but hated the state testing and the new responsibilities that were placed on us each year. I quit teaching after I had my kids to go to nursing school, and my goal was to teach childbirth classes and work L&D. In nursing school, I hated the hospital environment, and seriously considered quitting to go back to teaching. We have no family nearby and my husband works 40 miles away, so there was always the worry about what I was going to do with my kids so I could work.

I absolutely love working with the kids, the school environment, and of course, the schedule. I could be making so much more money in a hospital, but I get to make a difference in the lives of students, and watch them grow. Sometimes the autonomy is scary, but we have a very supportive district lead nurse. I will be retiring from this position!

NurseBeans, BSN, RN, EMT-B · May 5, 2017

Honestly, I have no idea what made me take a job in school nursing. I thought it would be nice to try out, I looked at the local district's website, and there was a position open. I put in my application and went to the interview with no intention of taking the job, but they called me later that afternoon with an offer. I figured I would do it for a bit (it was a mid-year retirement and the opening was for a temporary fill). That was 2 1/2 years ago and here I am still.

The benefits are the schedule, the employee benefits like medical/dental/vision since I am a state employee, the ability to be as close to my kids as you can get without homeschooling, and not needing before and after care. I enjoy the autonomy and the limitless possibilities here. If I want to focus on nutrition it's my program to build. If I want to focus on hand hygiene and preventative medicine that's my program to build. If I want to focus on emergency preparedness I may...you get the idea. The children can be very fun and very sweet, and most of my co-workers are nice people. I have no nursing supervisor breathing down my neck, and no surgeon has tried to bully me here (I was an OR wench).

Something I enjoy that might not be so appealing to other people is the complete lack of opportunities to move up the ladder. I enjoyed being a staff nurse when I was one, and hated that there was tremendous pressure to "climb" to higher positions. I was constantly being asked to interview for admin and educator positions at previous jobs, when all I wanted was to do my job that I was doing. That isn't even a possibility at this job. This is it.

The drawbacks are the isolation, not being able to ask questions of a colleague (but that has become less of an issue since finding these super ladies and gentlemen on here!), and the ever-looming possibility of an emergent situation with no back up. Then there are the obnoxious kids, and the even more obnoxious parents. There are some family situations that make my chest hurt, and some that just make me shake my head. I do get a lot of people angry at me for nonsense. Also, the general public opinion of school nurses as somehow "less than" other nurses is an annoyance. Many parents seem to share that opinion.

RatherBHiking, BSN, RN · May 5, 2017

I loved my school nurse growing up and went to see her as much as possible. I'm sure she loved that! I truly did have a lot of stomach aches. I think part due to a milk intolerance and part due to a lot of family stress and just wanting someone to give me more attention. However, I was facinated by her office and what she did. I remember thinking I want to do this someday. In middle school and high school I didn't visit the nurse. I just carried my over the counter meds on me for headaches and cramps. I don't think that was allowed but the teachers would never let me go to the nurse and my mom just told me do it. lol

I was working on OB and loved it. Absolutely loved it but was constantly forced to work over and under staffed to a point where I was so stressed I was having blood pressure problems and the doctors would force me to sit and rest when it spiked but I never had problems when I was off so they wouldn't prescribe me anything. We were out shopping one day and a friend of my mom's came up to us and when she found out I was a nurse with a 4yr degree asked me to apply because her district was hiring several nurses (due to new integration laws moving special ed into all schools and not their own special school anymore) and I had a good shot at getting hired. I decided to apply and was hired immediately to start in five days. My first day I didn't even have an office yet. I sat in the main office checking shot records. I was in shell shock going from 100 miles a minute to a snail's pace. I also had no clue what I was doing. I did that full time for five years and after my second baby was born decided to stay home full time for 10 yrs. After my youngest (the 3rd) started back to school I started subbing again, then went part time and eventually full time again, as well as, working part time in the hospital to get my skills back up. We constantly have openings as there's not a lot of BSN prepared nurses in our area who want a pay cut.

I'm going to be honest, I have a love-hate relationship with my job. I love the summers and holidays off. I love the lower stress ,not having back breaking work, and the relationships with the kids. I make per hour what I'd make at the hospital if I were working only part of the year and we were used to me not even having a salary for several years so the money is not an issue for me. My issue is the boredom. I keep busy but I just feel like something is missing. I also don't like the 8 hr a day work week. I much prefer 12's but my old back and knees can't handle being on the hospital floor that long. I'm not sure what I want to do. My youngest only has 3 yrs left of high school and then all my kids will be out of the house so I'll want to do something. I've played around with the idea of maybe getting my master's degree and teaching somewhere. I just don't know.