I work in a public school that is nearly 100% low-income kids. Public school funding here is 48th out of the 50 states. There's no money for anything, anywhere...which basically means that in wealthier neighborhoods, parents get a list and purchase $200+ dollars of classroom and office supplies at the beginning of the year, apart from what their individual child needs. In schools like mine, not so much.
Our teachers typically spend at least a couple hundred bucks of their own money, or sometimes considerably more, on basic supplies for their classroom (adding insult to injury, since their salaries are low).
The budget for the school health office is zero. Our resourceful administrative assistant pirated $200 from her office supply budget so I could get basic supplies from the district warehouse in September. I brought my own manual BP cuff, pulse ox, and thermometer to the office since it's out of the question to pay $300 to replace the battery and re-calibrate our Welch Allyn rolling unit. I regularly find myself picking up cough drops, disinfectant wipes, snacks, etc for school when I'm out doing my own shopping.
Do others face this issue? In a seemingly bottomless pit of needs, where do you draw the line? No one's going to die for lack of a cough drop, for sure. But there are some basic things that make my work life easier (like the organizer bags I purchased for storing medications) - sometimes I'd just rather have them than not, and I'm not going to get them any other way.
It's probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but your workplace should supply the tools that you need to do your job. Even if it requires the principal and other 6 figure workers taking a little pay cut at the end of the year. I wouldn't spend a personal dime for my essential job functions.
If you unfortunately continue to do so, I would definitely look into tax write offs if you don't already.
But again, you shouldn't have to spend a dime. If it is something nonessential, that is another issue. A vital sign machine is essential - there has to be somebody who can force the school to cough up $300 to replace it, or the kids don't get vital sign checks. That would fix it very quickly.
I must be a real meanie. I may buy some occasional mints, crackers or even extra juice (for diabetics - just in case). However, no way am I buying stock OTC meds out of my pocket.
If district wants to provide , well then - they need to provide! If there is no budget at your campus level, then something needs to trickle from up above.
This! I think I would get with my principal first to ask about "the process for buying supplies for the nurse's office." And if I received any pushback or no answers, I would go to HR and ask as well. If your school's receptionist has a budget, you have one too swimming around in there...
I work in a city with very fluctuating socioeconomic issues but overall low income school district. Over 40 schools and some have WAY better PTAs therefore nurses can request items that usually get approved. My PTA is almost non existent.
I have no budget but we get very basic supplies like bandaids, H2O2, caladryl. We do hav an Epi and Narcan, manual BP cuff, Oral and temporal thermometers.
I get assistance from kind teachers, my principal bought some nit combs because MUTANT ninja lice really are that bad I am putting aside paperwork to comb heads. I am a single parent trying to juggle 2 part time/per diem gigs in addition to this. I cannot afford to spare much but my son's outgrown clothes, occasional dollar store bag of peppermimts. I'm going to look into donorchoose because that would be great. A magic wand to cure all imaginary ails would be fantastic to have!
It's probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but your workplace should supply the tools that you need to do your job. Even if it requires the principal and other 6 figure workers taking a little pay cut at the end of the year. I wouldn't spend a personal dime for my essential job functions.
My administrators make less than the teachers and have mortgaged their homes for this school, one of the reasons I am willing to do what I do. Teachers here make half what the county public schools do and we are the lowest paid county in the state, despite being third richest.
My administrators make less than the teachers and have mortgaged their homes for this school, one of the reasons I am willing to do what I do. Teachers here make half what the county public schools do and we are the lowest paid county in the state, despite being third richest.
Jeez. Maybe someone needs to reach out to the public or the parents. I wouldn't spend personal money on my job, but I do hope you take advantage of the tax write offs, at least.
I live and work in my little cushy bubble - I really didn't realize some districts/schools have such a hard time even supplying simple items such as bandaids.
I live and work in my little cushy bubble - I really didn't realize some districts/schools have such a hard time even supplying simple items such as bandaids.
Thankfully Dollar Store bandaids are excellent and latex free. Dollar Store meds are also worthwhile. I have had a few parents offer to buy meds and supplies from their FSA's, I guess that is a double win for them as it is tax free withholding and then a tax write off as a charitable contribution.
Specializes in Prior Auth, SNF, HH, Peds Off., School Health, LTC.
On 2/6/2019 at 8:18 AM, MrNurse(x2) said:
Thankfully Dollar Store bandaids are excellent and latex free. Dollar Store meds are also worthwhile. I have had a few parents offer to buy meds and supplies from their FSA's, I guess that is a double win for them as it is tax free withholding and then a tax write off as a charitable contribution.
Funny— I was under the impression that virtually all OTC items/meds were disallowed on FSA’s now.
When I use our FSA debit card at the pharmacy, virtually the only thing it lets me pay for is the rx’s. If I’ve got bandaids, or cold medicine that I’m getting at the same time, the FSA-allowable potion is deducted and paid, and then the new total is told to me so I can pay for that with cash or another card. As a matter of fact, recently even the mag. citrate and fleets we had to get before dh’s colonoscopy wasn’t being allowed and the pharmacist recommended we call dh’s doc and ask them to rx a “prep kit”, which I guess would’ve been covered, but dh didn’t want the hassle.
Plus, 2/3 of the times I use the FSA card, a couple weeks later we get a letter asking for the individual rx receipts or the dr’s office superbill showing what we paid.... as if it was that easy to pay for anything and everything . smh.
I know if I could figure out how, donating supplies would be something I’d be willing to consider doing if we had funds left to use... last year we lost about $100 or so, even after I ordered a new pair of glasses and had a new bridge made. This year, we decided to reduce how much we’re contributing....
THIS is why I wish school nurses could have pages on donorschoose.com.... It's AMAZING for the teachers. We have several classrooms with pages up and several have had entire initiatives funded by local and non-local funders.
I know I personally cannot currently afford to contribute to my health office, but I'm honestly worried I will run out of bandaids and thermometer probe covers this year. I luckily have other nurses to borrow from, and a backup temporal thermometer that I can sanitize easily (though I hate them).
Good luck!
What kind of probe covers? We replaced a non functioning oral unit and have excess WA sure temp covers. We also have a large stock of the flimsy peel covers for small cheapie thermometers. I hate extra stock wasting space and could share.
I live and work in my little cushy bubble - I really didn't realize some districts/schools have such a hard time even supplying simple items such as band aids.
And the harder it is for the the tax base to cover the needs is directly related to how hard it is for parents to provide for their own kids at home, let alone pitch in to help the nurse.
I'm lucky that my school has a wide range of income levels so taxes cover my in-school needs and all those band aids and med doses for kids who have none at home.
Wow I am shocked they don't supply your basic needs. I guarantee the superintendent is NOT buying his own paperclips. I would be putting up a fight about that. We have a small budget and then we also get around $25 from the PTO and then my principal is awesome about getting me what I need out of one of the school budgets if I don't have enough out of my own. I am exploring my options on thermometers. The probe covers are so darn expensive I no longer want to use half my budget for them so I'm looking for one that doesn't need probe covers if you have any recommendations. It's sad that it's like this.
I am a new school nurse, started this year. Back ground in ICU 25 years in nursing. I was very acoustomed to a huge amount of supplies available to me in the hospital setting but. NOT in school and I had no idea there was a budget for the health office. I keep texting my boss for supplies I need. She brought me a few miss-matched rolls of tape, box of gloves, some ice pacs and 1 lone container of 4x4. I have bought sanitary pads, cough drops, mints, gingerale, supplies all I can find. My cabinets are so empty!!! I guess I will have to hold pressure with a maxipad for the next lac. Or I could go to the hospital and ask them to save the still sterile unused supplies off of their procedure trays like we used to donate to 3rd world countries. This is almost a deal changer I' ve never invested so much of my earnings back into work but.....
the kids appreciate it I know. Please send comments. Im new and really had no orientation. I come here and get my LEARNING on. Thanks
mushyrn, BSN, RN
150 Posts
It's probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but your workplace should supply the tools that you need to do your job. Even if it requires the principal and other 6 figure workers taking a little pay cut at the end of the year. I wouldn't spend a personal dime for my essential job functions.
If you unfortunately continue to do so, I would definitely look into tax write offs if you don't already.
But again, you shouldn't have to spend a dime. If it is something nonessential, that is another issue. A vital sign machine is essential - there has to be somebody who can force the school to cough up $300 to replace it, or the kids don't get vital sign checks. That would fix it very quickly.