Advice needed

Published

I am an RN who recently retired from a full time position as a school nurse. They recently hired a medical assistant to fill my position. I still work there as a substitute so I know what I am about to say is true. The administration recently came out with the roster for next year listing her as the school nurse even though they've been informed not to do so. The office is also listed on the school map as the nurse's office. The entire district is replacing RNs with MAs. They even celebrate school nurse day for the MAs.

This is same school district had an article in the newspaper stated that they were one of a few districts that were following the NASN guidelines of an RN in every school when, in fact, many

the staff at the time were LPNs.

I feel like I'm being petty, but I worked hard for my RN and my certication as a school nurse. Should I report this to the Board? If I do and they know that I reported them I could lose my substitute job and I won't be able to afford health insurance. I feel that they are not being honest by allowing this to go on and it shouldn't be ignored. I see this going on all of the time in medical offices. Maybe the Board of Nursing should send reminders out from time to time to let medical offices and school know not to use the title of "nurse" lightly.

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.

Wow.

OK, our BON in Texas has exceptionally strict rules around what happens when someone poses as a nurse. I would at a minimum let the individual(s) know that if someone is referring to them as "Nurse So and So" they need to correct that perception (they probably won't care and I don't believe MA's are regulated like CNAs.) It's my understanding that MA's accept delegation from physicians. Is there a district physician or a standing set of orders? Because...I don't think MA's can assess anything.

Then I'd complain to the school board about the misrepresentation. I'm assuming it's a district decision and not an individual administrative one.

Your issue is not petty. The school district is deliberately misleading the public about who's in the clinic.

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No, there are not standing orders or a district physician. There is a lead nurse. She has told the MAs that they cannot go by the title of nurse but it's up to the distict administration to inform the principals of the seriousness of this. Which I don't see happening. They never did respect the actual RNs when they had us and they just hope that they can get away with hiring a warm body to fill our offices ad using our titles

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This appalls me.

The poor parents of these kids.

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Specializes in kids.

May a letter to the state Boaard of Education with a copy of the Administrative Rules....

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I would definitely be contacting someone. Whether it's your BON, the Board of Education, or even both. The school/district is doing nothing but setting themselves, and the MA they hire, up for failure and potential lawsuits. Plus, labeling them as nurses when they're not will only lead to them working outside of their scope of practice which is terrifying, both from an RN standpoint and a parent. There are legit ramifications for representing yourself as an RN when you're not. Perhaps they don't realize this? From your response, it sounds like they just don't care, which is a whole other ball game on top of this one. Good luck with this. I hope it gets squared away soon for the kids' sake!

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Yes, Good idea

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Specializes in School nursing.

Ugh, OP. That is a mess. That article especially is false reporting; parents will assume RNs are working in every nurse's office. It is a lawsuit just waiting to happen.

I like Nutmegge's idea. (Oddly enough, I bet if one were to write to the paper that published the article of the school meeting NASN's guidelines and stated it was false, the school would be jumping up and down that to hide that bad press.)

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You are not being petty at all. This irks me to no end. Fine, you want to save money as a district by hiring MA's, go ahead!!! However, do not misrepresent that you have a "nurse" in every building. Own it, say you have an aid in every building. Oh and be prepared to spend all that money you save by not hiring RN's on the lawsuits that occur as a result.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

I mentioned this before...in Texas public schools only a RN can be a School Nurse. Texas Public schools, however, are not required to have a school nurse. A school district can hire a library assistant or a fry cook or anyone else (except a registered sex offender) to staff the clinic if they want to and that person can be "called" anything anybody wants to call them and that's OK. What's not OK is if this person represents themselves as a "School Nurse" or if the school district represents this person as a "School Nurse." In both cases a fraudulent representation would occur and that could result in criminal charges and possibly civil action. I'm not sure if a reference such as "nurse" would fall into this category since it is more general but it still misrepresents the position.

Regardless it's a "spin" of reality and I think I'd inform the school board if I were you. It does a great disservice to the parents in general and to the students in particular.

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Specializes in IMCU.

Blinking heck! That is truly awful but not unbelievable unfortunately.

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
You are not being petty at all. This irks me to no end. Fine, you want to save money as a district by hiring MA's, go ahead!!! However, do not misrepresent that you have a "nurse" in every building. Own it, say you have an aid in every building. Oh and be prepared to spend all that money you save by not hiring RN's on the lawsuits that occur as a result.

Exactly. This is not being petty at all. And it has nothing to do with how hard anyone worked to become a nurse.

This is about committing fraud and abusing the public trust. It is illegal to represent anyone as a nurse who isn't. It's that simple. OP absolutely needs to report this to the BON and Board of Education. To fail to do so would make him/her complicit. I believe reporting can be done anonymously.

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