1st time as camp nurse and have a few questions.

[NurseAngela05]

I will be working as a camp nurse starting the week after next and I am very excited! I'm working June 14th-July 29th. My usual job is as a school LVN so I needed to do something to earn an income during summer break!

I will be living at the camp and there is one other nurse who I'll be splitting work days with. Room, board, and food are all provided at no expense to me. From what it sounds like, the other nurse and I will split the days in half or something between the two of us, and everyone at camp has one day off per week. I think there will be about 60 kids if I remember correctly.

What is the usual compensation (ballpark) for a camp nurse for this duration? Will there be a huge difference between the usual duties I expect at my school job? (First aid, diabetes, medication, asthma, allergies, etc) I was told that the camp has someone trained to handle sports injuries, so i don't think I'll be seeing many of those.

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

Where is your camp at and approximately what is your salary.

Not it to be rude. But the fact is many camps get away with low balling nurses because it's hard to know that the industry standard is for many areas.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Try to review the health form filled out by every camper and staffer before camp starts so you know if you have any serious issues - epileptics, asthmatics, diabetics, etc. If they have not filled it out, make them do it right then and there.

If you can't review them in advance, do it ASAP when you get there.

Meet each camper upon their arrival. My camps always had a check-in procedure that included meeting the nurse, turning in meds, making health issues known to the nurse. Counselors are often young, so get to know them, too.

Hopefully you arrive at camp a day or two before the kids so you have time to set up the Clinic, review forms, meet staff, learn the layout of the camp, check for fire extinguishers, CPR equipment, a stretcher or gurney, gloves, Benadryl. You might need to have written standing orders from a physician to be able to give things like Benadryl, Tylenol, other OTC meds in certain situations.

Make sure the Clinic has clean bedding, soap, hand sanitizers, kleenex, working refrigerator, H2O, ice packs, heating pads, etc. Usually the Clinic/Nurse gets high priority.

Know the laws.

Collect all meds from minors and keep in Infirmary. Set up your Med Pass procedures and treatments procedures and your record-keeping.

I always found it easier to take meds to the Dining Hall than expect campers to come to me. Not sure if this is kosher any more (HIPAA).

The American Camping Association probably has material that will be very helpful, or your library, and the internet, of course. Be sure your insurance covers you for this type of Nursing, make sure you're licensed in whatever state the camp is in.

Don't remember what I got paid and it's been many years ago anyway. My kids went to camp for free when I was working. Not always a good thing, depending on the environment.

Expect anything and everything to occur - from MI or CVA to bug bites and homesickness.

Think of each body system and what you will do for ailments of each one - Derm, GYN, GU, GI, Resp, Cardiac, Ortho/Trauma, etc.

You might need to do a class for staff on hygiene (handwashing, not sharing hair care items and make-up - real basic stuff). Also, you know that people living in groups infection spreads easily - GI, Resp, earaches.

Does the camp have an established relationship with a pediatrician in town? That always prevents a lot ER and Urgent Care runs.

Do not give allergy shots at camp. Those who need them while at camp must absolutely have them where emergency help is available in case of bad reaction - like the office of a local allergist.

It's a real job. Some nurses don't take it as seriously as they should. AS a school nurse, you should do fine. Just play by the rules. Stand your ground if Admin doesn't want to send a kid and staff to accompany him/her to a doc or ER. IT's your license, not theirs. Just remind them that they hired you to do the job and take the decision-making off of them and that you just don't want the camp to have any problems.

Do not use your personal vehicle to drive anybody anywhere, not even to be nice - unless you make proper arrangements with your insurer.

You do not have to accompany every camper you send to a doc or ER unless you believe it to be warranted. However, make sure you get the reports and discharge instructions and be sure to see the camper upon return. They might come back with a cast or dressing or meds or whatever. Take the initiative to follow through, do not rely on counselors or drivers or kids to come to you.

[Scrubs_n_sirens, MSN, RN]

I will be arriving to camp the same day as the kids, so I hope everything is pretty much in place, including orders.. The counselors arrive at camp the week before. Maybe they should do that with nurses as well. Especially with so many kids! I think I will have 60-100 per session but I dont recall exactly how many. I guess I will find out the week after next!

When I did it, I also had to show up a week before to help prep for camp. I'm not sure why they don't have you there the first week-- would be better for acclimating.

Curious- why and for what do you do routine foot checks?

Ring worm. Fungus. Any foot problems that could be contagious. We didn't want anything contagious that girls walking on the pool decks, in their lodging, or showers barefoot could contract.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Yes, try to arrive at least a day or two early. It gives you a chance to personally get settled in and also to meet your coworkers, give your basic hygiene talk to them, discuss your priorities and procedures with them, meet the doc in town (hopefully, your camp has a basic pediatrician you can contact instead of having to run to ER or Acute Care every time you need to send someone out or confer with a doctor). Or maybe your camp has a doctor on the premises and he or she will see sick or injured kids at set times and for emergencies, knows local specialists in case they're needed - Gyn, OB (yes, I once had a post-AB teen who was bleeding too much and also have had pregnant teens), surgeons (appendicitis or other acute surgical abdomen, boils, and who knows what).

Counselors and their meds - some will try to keep them in their bunking areas where campers could conceivably get at them. Not good. All meds are to be turned in to the Infirmary. That said, don't make it too hard for their owners to access their meds. I wouldn't let them have free access to your locked med room, but understand that they might need some leeway on when they can come get their own meds. If you're really nice to them, they might bring along their campers who need meds, which is some fewer that you have to carry to the Mess Hall.

Prepare First Aid kids for field trips and to have around the camp - like at the pool, the Dining Hall, the Office, and any other remote areas.

If I needed to communicate with a parent, I always had the camper speak to them first and then put me on the line so as to avoid the shock of telling a parent that you're the camp nurse and their child is injured or ill. But you probably already do that as a school nurse.

Expect to mostly work - it's really not a vacation for staff. i've seen some B's as nurses. Mean, rude to kids, yelled at them, made kids not want to go see the nurse. IF someone treated my kids that way, I'd be all over it. Just treat them they way you want your own loved ones treated and there'll be no problems in that regard.

Minors should learn to be responsible for their meds, but legally you are the responsible party, so just do what you have to do to make sure they get their meds - deliver to mess hall or to their cabin or to their first hour activity or whatever.

Upon their arrival, check for open wounds, ask about dental issues.

Have a great time and by the end of the session you will know how to be a great summer camp nurse.

[BonnieSc]

My big piece of advice (and you've gotten a lot of good suggestions) is to remember that you are there to help kids get a good/healthy camp experience. The camp doesn't revolve around the nurse or the health center. That's probably the most common mistake I've seen from nurses who weren't already camp people. Keep your schedule as flexible as possible, yet also make sure you keep your "office hours". Steady office hours are the best way to make sure people come to see you then instead of trickling in all day every day for non-urgent issues.

Don't keep kids longer than you need to. Whenever possible, treat them and send them back to their activities. Be kind and nurturing with those who are really ill/injured, but don't make the health center an inviting place. I know that sounds weird. But hanging out with the nurse should NEVER seem like more fun than camp activities. We've had nurses keep kids for a whole half-day when they complained of, say, a headache. Cover your bases--are they hydrated? not over-heated? no fever? not hungry?, give some tylenol if it matches the situation (parents' permission, camp policy, etc), and send them back, with a suggestion to the camper and counselor to take it a bit easy. If the rest of the group is doing something very active, like field games, they can stay with you until the activity's up. Be careful you're not keeping kids away from their one opportunity to do horseback riding because you're keeping them in the health center "just in case". Parents complain about that.

Regarding calling parents--kids at my camps have absolutely not been able to talk to their parents while there. (I can think of two exceptions--one where a camper's grandfather had died and the parents, over our objections, wanted to tell her even though they weren't coming to pick her up, and another where I had a teenage camper who was a type-1 diabetic, struggling with glucose control, at camp for a full month, and really needed her mother's advice about how to self-manage.) When I had to talk to parents, I would use a script similar to this: "Hello, I'm Bonnie, the nurse at camp, and there's no emergency--your daughter is fine." And then go on to discuss whatever had come up. Usually if I had to call it was because there was a question about something on the health form, a medication issue (the girl says she needs it twice a day, the bottle says once), I wanted the parent's opinion on how to handle an issue, or I was sending the child home with an illness/condition and wanted to give them fair warning (a fever that sprung up on closing day, a bruise to the face, an excessive amount of mosquito bites, a sunburn.) And I always, always spoke to the camp director before calling a parent. That's something I can't emphasize enough, unless your camp director has told you otherwise. The camp director is the public face of camp. Do not let him/her be blindsided by hearing about a camper issue from someone else--the parent who calls to complain, or the administrative office who has taken a parent call and wants to discuss the situation with the camp director.

[evolvingrn, BSN, RN]

When I was a camp nurse, meds were camper responsibility..... We had labeled pill enveloped (name, med, dose, scheduled time) that we pre filled. I would sit in dining hall with dixi cups and juice during meals and they came and got them at their leisure. At end of meal before campers were dismissed those who had forgotten were asked to come see me. Worked great.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

When I was a camp nurse, meds were camper responsibility..... We had labeled pill enveloped (name, med, dose, scheduled time) that we pre filled. I would sit in dining hall with dixi cups and juice during meals and they came and got them at their leisure. At end of meal before campers were dismissed those who had forgotten were asked to come see me. Worked great.

It can work when you don't have a lot of kids getting meds. But, try though we did, we still had plenty of kids at every meal all summer who had not mastered the simple skill of getting their meds in the Dining Hall. Some kids didn't make it to breakfast. Or their group was early or late or out of camp on an overnight. Or they forgot. Or they had a special project happening and couldn't wait or remember. There are many reasons.

And if a kid needed a dressing or other treatment or had to come to the Clinic anyway, we often just gave their pills when they came to the Clinic.

A lot depends on how organized your counselors are, too, as to whether they remind the campers to see the nurse.

Also, if your seizure kids miss too many doses, that could have a serious and dangerous result. And no one will blame the camper because you are the licensed adult.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

When I was a camp nurse, meds were camper responsibility..... We had labeled pill envelopes (name, med, dose, scheduled time) that we pre filled. I would sit in dining hall with dixie cups and juice during meals and they came and got them at their leisure. At end of meal before campers were dismissed those who had forgotten were asked to come see me. Worked great.

This works well if kids are responsible or maybe the med is only once a day or counselors are particularly good at helping. And if camp is only a few kids.

When meds/treatments are several times per day or more complex or have to be done in the Infirmary (soaks, large dressings), it's harder to get compliance.

And if you have 200 or 300 campers, it's harder because there are so many meds to take to the Dining Room and the mealtime goes on longer (different groups come in at different times), and it's just more time-consuming and more difficult. You also can't be in the Dining Room and in the Clinic doing treatments at the same time. So it depends on all these factors and probably more.

Also, I don't know that legally meds are the responsibility of the minors in your care. If they suffered any harm because of not getting their meds, I think there could well be legal repercussions for the nurse who didn't make sure the meds were given. Or at least offered and refused. If the minors refused more than once or twice, I'd be on the phone to the parents.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

My big piece of advice (and you've gotten a lot of good suggestions) is to remember that you are there to help kids get a good/healthy camp experience. The camp doesn't revolve around the nurse or the health center. That's probably the most common mistake I've seen from nurses who weren't already camp people. Keep your schedule as flexible as possible, yet also make sure you keep your "office hours". Steady office hours are the best way to make sure people come to see you then instead of trickling in all day every day for non-urgent issues.

Don't keep kids longer than you need to. Whenever possible, treat them and send them back to their activities. Be kind and nurturing with those who are really ill/injured, but don't make the health center an inviting place. I know that sounds weird. But hanging out with the nurse should NEVER seem like more fun than camp activities. We've had nurses keep kids for a whole half-day when they complained of, say, a headache. Cover your bases--are they hydrated? not over-heated? no fever? not hungry?, give some tylenol if it matches the situation (parents' permission, camp policy, etc), and send them back, with a suggestion to the camper and counselor to take it a bit easy. If the rest of the group is doing something very active, like field games, they can stay with you until the activity's up. Be careful you're not keeping kids away from their one opportunity to do horseback riding because you're keeping them in the health center "just in case". Parents complain about that.

Regarding calling parents--kids at my camps have absolutely not been able to talk to their parents while there. (I can think of two exceptions--one where a camper's grandfather had died and the parents, over our objections, wanted to tell her even though they weren't coming to pick her up, and another where I had a teenage camper who was a type-1 diabetic, struggling with glucose control, at camp for a full month, and really needed her mother's advice about how to self-manage.) When I had to talk to parents, I would use a script similar to this: "Hello, I'm Bonnie, the nurse at camp, and there's no emergency--your daughter is fine." And then go on to discuss whatever had come up. Usually if I had to call it was because there was a question about something on the health form, a medication issue (the girl says she needs it twice a day, the bottle says once), I wanted the parent's opinion on how to handle an issue, or I was sending the child home with an illness/condition and wanted to give them fair warning (a fever that sprung up on closing day, a bruise to the face, an excessive amount of mosquito bites, a sunburn.) And I always, always spoke to the camp director before calling a parent. That's something I can't emphasize enough, unless your camp director has told you otherwise. The camp director is the public face of camp. Do not let him/her be blindsided by hearing about a camper issue from someone else--the parent who calls to complain, or the administrative office who has taken a parent call and wants to discuss the situation with the camp director.

At the camps I worked, the Directors wanted to be kept abreast of serious things - lacerations, fractures, seizures, appendicitis, hemorrhage, violence, and the like - but not more routine matters (earaches, sore throats, GI, menstrual, sunburn, bug bites, and other smaller matters). That's what we nurses were there for. We kept our Log, the D could look at it whenever he or she wanted to, and we spoke a couple of times daily to be sure we were on the same page, more often if a serious matter arose.

I didn't want to give parents heart attacks, so always had the camper say a few words then give me the phone. It worked for me, never had c/o from anyone. Campers' calls were limited, as you suggest, but some of them were there the whole summer, so got to call home weekly after the first week. Different camps are just different.