Camp Nursing

mcg02 · Nov 22, 2003

please somebody replt to my post

nightingale, RN · Nov 22, 2003

Mcg02:

We are all volounteers, except for Brian the owner of the business (AllNurses). YOu did also have a query at midnight... and to ask for a reply (thank you for saying please) within 4 hours in the middle of the night.... is a surprise.

I know it may be hard to navigate our BB so let me offer a suggestion on how to do this. I think that may help you best.

Within the categories or specialties are subtopics; try going to that leed category and see the existing conversations. Here is the actual URL for Camp Nursing:

https://allnurses.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=90

YOU will find exactly what you are looking for on that page with existing conversations. Your query is a common one and has been discussed intelligently before. There are other, very interesting, conversations there also that you may find useful.

Let me know if you need anything else.

bergren · Nov 22, 2003

Ditto - I do not know anything about camp nursing in the south. I hope you found the camp nursing board. There has been a lot about camp nursing on the schlrn-l listserv in the last 2 months. you could go to the archives and type in "camp" to see those posts: http://www.escribe.com/health/schoolnurse/index.html

SteelTownRN · Dec 28, 2003

There is an organization, Association of Camp Nurses, that has a great website. http://www.acn.org You should be able to find lots of information there.

STG

ER Tigger Girl · Dec 28, 2003

I do camp nursing in the summer in New England. I live in FLorida. I am an ER nurse during the year. It depends on which camp you go to. All of them offer different things. Normally, room, board, 3 meals a day and travel expenses are paid along with your nursing license for that state. Your pay usually depends on if you have children going with you and how many. I do an 8 week camp but there are ones that do anywhere from 1 week to 9 weeks. Go to campnurse.com and you will find an application for many of them. Just make sure they are ACA accredited and ask their camper numbers. I had a friend who was the only nurse for 200 campers!! If you have any more questions, feel free to email me- [email protected]

renerian, BSN, RN · Dec 28, 2003

I have always wanted to do this type of nursing! Thanks for the link. I think 1 RN for 200 campers would be rough. When would you sleep?

LOL,

renerian

lynswim · Dec 29, 2003

There are LOTS of summer camps in Western North Carolina. One way to find out about them is to go to http://www.acacamps.org and do a search.

I usually work several weeks at Camp MerrieWoode in North Carolina; two nurses and a visiting MD for 180 girls.

One of these days I'm going to get brave and try a camp in Maine

Lyn

RNPATL, DNP, RN · Jan 20, 2004

I know I am responding to an older post, but perhaps you still have an interest. My daughter attends Riverview Camp for Girls in Mentone, AL. I am not sure if the camp has any nurse openings, but it is worth investigating. This is a wonderful camp and the girls have a great time. This will be my daughters 3rd year at Riverview and it is worth every penny (I have to save all year)!. The web site for the camp is http://www.campriverview.com and the Director's name is Susan Hooks.

If that web address does not work, simply go on your favorite search engine and search for Riverview Camp for Girls. Good luck with your quest .... camp nursing can be wonderfully rewarding and fun too.

needdynurse · Aug 8, 2004

Hi to all!!!
I live in Georgia and I am interested in doing camp nursing summer 2004 in the south (Alabama, North or South Carolina, Florida, Tenn etc) Can anyone let me know of tehir past experiences as camp nurses such as a typical day, pay, did they pay for travel, did you have a private room/bath, the food and what did you do on your days off, is it advisable to bring a car. Any help is appreciated.

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Yes I was camp nurse one summer.There are many unforseen factors involved.

Be carefull now think on this long and hard please

How many children will you be overseeing?from poor families?Ever heard of Rittlan? You will!!.You will be on call from about 0700 hrs -1900 hrs if your lucky. Each child must bring their medications that will be passed on to you alone.Each child must be checked for fleas by you.Ihad my own lodging "The

Hospital if there is a bed avaliable.Sickness in the cabins can be frequent as in

0330. Your own car is amust unless the camp has a vehicle that will transport kids to the hospital when needed.Counsellors and staff rely on you also.

your days off are generally Friday @ 1400 hrs til Sunday 2200 hrs. This is when you get some sleep and decent meals ,no time for fun too tired.

Camps aren't notorious for stalking gauze,tape,gloves,ung,-normal things to us

and do't demad any either ,they work on a tight budget oh yes I got $50 wk

or $10 day.I was also responsible for checking cabins out, every morning while the kids were at breakfast,swabs taken if anything looks suspicious like fungus

What do you do if a child has lost their sox and their feet are nothing but infected blisters(give them an antibiotic?-No!!) take them to the nearest Hospital to the camp,while you are in the middle of dispensing meds, then hunt the kids down who didn't get their H.S. meds and are noe asleep oh by the way many youngsters can't swallow meds of anyking unless chewable.

Boy I'll never forget that summer unfortunately NRSDUG enjoy

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · Aug 14, 2004

Your experience sounds similar to mine, but I didn't find it to be as bad.

-Yes, I was tired, my day started at 8am and ended 10-1030pm (unless there was a big issue).

-I had my 4 year old with me, and she basically kept my hours (she needed to watch every kid come in my office). If there was a lull during HS meds, I would try to get her to sleep. She and I were exhausted (of course, she wouldn't admit to it!)

-Not too big on the supplies. Needed to go to the drugstore to get Ace bandages and refills on tylenol and cough drops (next yr I'll borrow from the hospital) :chuckle

-I did have to send one kid to the ER via ambulance (asthma attack), the camp director followed behind in a camp vehicle, and another staff member went in the ambulance. I stayed behind, in case someone else needed me.

-I didn't find the routine meds to be a big deal, by the end of the week, I made it clear that they couldn't stroll in at any hour. :nono:

-Other than that, most of it was bull----. My this hurts, my that hurts, lots of homesickness. Everyone's throat hurted!! I went through cough drops like you wouldn't believe!! Some kids had a new complaint each day, or after each meal. And I guess the counselors don't discourage them from coming to me (they thought most of the kids complaints were legit- THEY WEREN'T!!).

-I took it all with a grain of salt- my daughter had a great time!! And I learned alot about the psychology of 'healthy' children, something I don't have experience with. They are very cute- and very dependent on adults, and most lack any decision making ability if mommy or daddy is not there. I did lots of mommying :kiss

marybethm · Nov 5, 2005

I was a camp nurse in NY last summer for one month. I brought along my son for free. He had the time of his life but I worked like a dog. From the moment my feet hit the floor at 7am until I went to bed at midnight, I was busy. It was a very, very long day. The camp had about 260 kids and two nurses. The owners were pretty good and anytime we needed anything they would get it, no questions asked. But I soon realized that they have their hands full with a million other things and wanted the infirmary to run pretty much on it's own and didn't want us to bother them with details. Thank God I got along well with the other nurse, because if I didn't I would have been screwed. We had some great laughs, but it was a long, long day. I was shocked at how many kids were medicated and I'm a school nurse so it's not like I am out of touch.

After every meal, the line to see the nurses was at least 20 kids deep and often more. It was nothing terrible---bandaids, coughs, tummy aches and so on. A lot of attention-seeking behaviors, campers and counselors alike. I was two for three in dx broken bones (one was a false alarm). Also saw shingles, ear infections and URI's out the wazoo (we called it kennel cough). Had some seizures, some kids with real psycho/social problems where I felt like I was in way over my head, but found just plain being kind goes a long way. Had frequent flyers, of course, who came every day and I wished I could just slap them upside their head and say, "You want something to cry about?" But of course, that is a big no-no these days. Pity.

The good things about it were that we could be pretty autonomous...I have ten years ER experience, plus four years of school nursing and three years of float pool, so I was pretty confident about my skills. Nothing happened that I felt I really could not handle. I would say if you have ER experience, or peds experience, or are a mom, you would be fine. But be prepared to work hard and to be woken up in the middle of the night.

Tips: NEVER work at a camp where there is only one nurse. Unless the owners put it in writing, in a contract, you will never get time off. The more nurses, the better it is. Find out ahead of time how days off work; we did our own scheduling which was ok, but they said we'd get two nights off each week and one full 24 hour day. Totally unfeasible, unless you didn't mind leaving your partner completely alone for all that time; their work load is doubled when one is off. We ended up getting one 12 hour day off and one evening off each week. Which was fine.

Find out exactly what your duties will be and where you will sleep. Get it all in writing. I find as I look for a camp job for this coming year (I haven't decided if I will go back to the same camp) that the camp's website is an indication of how valued their nurses are--if the "staff" or "employment" site has only info about counselors, no info about nursing, than you are just a technicality, not a valued member of their staff. In my opinion.

Finally, although it was a lot of work, I wasn't the only working hard. Everyone was. I got very attached to some of those kids. I could see how a good camp could save lives. Literally. If you are a self-starter, don't expect it to be a nine to five job, have a good sense of humor and don't mind hard work, you'll do fine.