Considering school nurse position

NutmeggeRN, BSN · Oct 25, 2016

Right now I make $18.30/hour working about 38 hours a week, so even the top end of the pay scale for the school nurse job would be a cut of $12,000 annually. My husband makes very good money, and I know I couldn't go out to lunch (my bad habit here--too close to certain restaurants!) and I could try PRN during the summer. I'm going to go for it and hope it works out! All my jobs have had ped and adult pts so I'm familiar with the ped mindset (in addition to my own two kids). I'm just worried that I'm going to second-guess myself since so much of school nursing seems to be triage, knowing when to call parents (or 911) and when they're bluffing. Wish me luck!

#Coffeeonthekeyboardkindamorning!!!

Out to lunch...Wow, No you don't need to worry about that!!!

All kidding aside, it is the hardest job I have ever loved!!

MHDNURSE · Oct 25, 2016

You've already gotten some great advice. A good school nurse should be able to multitask. Depending on how big your school is, you could be dealing with a pretty acute kid and have multiple other things going on at the same time. You need to be able to prioritize and not get caught up in all the "State Mandated" stuff that can make you nervous when you first start. I was new last year (2015-2016 school year) and I was so panicked about state mandated screenings, that I mistakenly thought those were THE most important thing for me to get done and lost a lot of sleep over it. You have to be able to work independently, meaning feeling comfortable calling the shots and making decisions confidently without being able to talk it through with someone. It can feel isolating and lonely sometimes as well. I am in a little office tucked away in the corner and unless I have a student in my office with me, I am alone most of the time. I am an introvert so most of the time I don;t mind it at all, but occasionally I will just wander the halls and check in on classes just to be around other people. Be comfortable setting boundaries with teachers. I am terrible at setting boundaries and made the mistake of offering to help with "non-nursing" tasks (my school is small) and those offers turned into assumptions that I would regularly take on those tasks. An example is I am fluent in Spanish and we have a huge (75%) Latino population. A teacher found out I was bilingual and emailed me something to translate for her. I did it and then word got out, and before I knew it, people were emailing me stuff left and right to translate- like several documents a week. I was too afraid to say no since I was new so I let it continue all school year and I was resentful about it. Needless to say, at the start of this year, a new teacher emailed me saying "I heard you are the one who translates everything" :nono: I replied "Not anymore, too busy". No one has asked me since.

I love my awesome hours, my 15 minute commute from home, my awesome administration that trusts me 100% to do my job and leaves me alone, my student population, the days off we get.

I do NOT like my crappy salary, having to adhere to state mandated laws that I feel are a waste of time and resources, the amount of paperwork/administrative stuff, chasing down parents for permission slips, forms, immunization documentation, etc. I also work at a charter school so I only get 6 weeks off in the Summer, rather than 8-10 like most school nurses.

I just yesterday turned down an opportunity to make a NICE chunk of change (more than twice what I am making now) but the hours and work load were a lot more and I realize how nice I have it right now. If you can afford a pay cut and you find a great school, it's a great gig :)