Coping with emergencies at any time.

I am going to lay it out realistically, I apologize if it seems harsh in advance. Nursing is all about critical thinking, a skill that takes education and experience. More education can never replace more experience and experience alone can not make up for education. Your floor experience is too short to really gain experience, therefore your critical thinking skills for emergencies are deficient. It is one thing to develop experience where you have more experienced nurses to bounce things off of and help to debrief after situations, but  you have put yourself in an isolated position without oversight. You may luck out and never experience that emergency you are not prepared for, but you are putting yourself and students at risk. Sometimes the right job comes at the wrong time, and your choice to take another track in nursing means that there are certain positions that you should shy away from, like this. There are many nurses that would be salivating over the choice you made for administration and would read your resume with great envy. This isn't a critique of you as a person, it is an  analytical assessment of your nursing career until now, and is only a snapshot of where you are now. I suggest you take a step back, get your acute care experience over the next two to three years and develop those critical thinking skills that allow you to function independently and then dive into this.

On 1/27/2020 at 8:33 AM, Flare said:

 

Quote

We act as a virtual nursing station for one another

This.  I was at the hospital all day yesterday with my dad for a shoulder replacement and I found myself feeling a little sad and envious of the nurses.  They were eating lunch together, grabbing coffee on a break, just being nurses doing their regular things side by side and I realized how much I miss that.  I appreciate the image of a "virtual nursing station" because it got my out of my pity party a little bit.    Thank you for that!

 

5 minutes ago, SchoolNurseK said:

 

Absolutely!  I miss working side by side with other nurses, for a number of reasons.  Mainly, so other people can understand my sense of humor.  I think the teachers see me as loon or mean when I laugh about some things.  Take the great Poop Apocalypse of 2019.  Explosive diarrhea all over my bathroom from a Kinder.  There is nothing I could do but laugh when it was all said and done or I would have cried.  

I appreciate you all more than words can  say!!!!  

2 minutes ago, Cas1in72 said:

Absolutely!  I miss working side by side with other nurses, for a number of reasons.  Mainly, so other people can understand my sense of humor.  I think the teachers see me as loon or mean when I laugh about some things.  Take the great Poop Apocalypse of 2019.  Explosive diarrhea all over my bathroom from a Kinder.  There is nothing I could do but laugh when it was all said and done or I would have cried.  

I appreciate you all more than words can  say!!!!  

I'm lucky in that I have a few staff members that appreciate my nurse sense of humor.

Like when I helped with the school musical during a stomach bug a few years ago. Legally Blonde became Legally Vom and me and two staff members still laugh about it to this day. 

On 1/27/2020 at 4:55 PM, BiscuitRN said:

 If you haven't been trained on what to do and the situation is dire you call 9-1-1."

This, over and over again. Don't be afraid to utilize 911 when necessary. 

On 1/28/2020 at 8:53 AM, MrNurse(x2) said:

I am going to lay it out realistically, I apologize if it seems harsh in advance. Nursing is all about critical thinking, a skill that takes education and experience. More education can never replace more experience and experience alone can not make up for education. Your floor experience is too short to really gain experience, therefore your critical thinking skills for emergencies are deficient. It is one thing to develop experience where you have more experienced nurses to bounce things off of and help to debrief after situations, but  you have put yourself in an isolated position without oversight. You may luck out and never experience that emergency you are not prepared for, but you are putting yourself and students at risk.

I am afraid I am going to have to agree with Mr.NurseX2 on this one. Being a school nurse for the last 16 years, this is definitely not a job that I would reccommend going into with no or limited experience. We are usually alone, and when there is an emergency, we have to handle it on our own. Not having been able to sharpen critical thinking and assessment skills it is very possible to miss something while assessing a student if you don't have the experience behind you. I think that it would be a good idea to get some strong med surg experience and then come back to school nursing. I think this will give you the confidence that you need to handle the emergencies that you may come across. I do wish you the very best.

1 hour ago, beachynurse said:

I am afraid I am going to have to agree with Mr.NurseX2 on this one. Being a school nurse for the last 16 years, this is definitely not a job that I would reccommend going into with no or limited experience. We are usually alone, and when there is an emergency, we have to handle it on our own. Not having been able to sharpen critical thinking and assessment skills it is very possible to miss something while assessing a student if you don't have the experience behind you. I think that it would be a good idea to get some strong med surg experience and then come back to school nursing. I think this will give you the confidence that you need to handle the emergencies that you may come across. I do wish you the very best.

I would argue that pediatric experience is also extremely valuable. I didn't really review diabetes care in the real world (vs hospital sliding scale at the time) and didn't get any asthma care during my med surg time in nursing school. (Breath sounds, yes.)

However, I was a nurse who went into school nursing as a new grad. Another but - my first job as a long term sub I got to work directly with another seasoned school nurse who took me under her wing and taught me so much. This is was SO helpful. I spent six weeks with her and it was was like the most amazing orientation ever.

I am the exception to the rule.  

And I am still learning every day. I review a lot. 

20 hours ago, JenTheSchoolRN said:

 

And I am still learning every day. I review a lot. 

26 years in and I am still learning!

28 minutes ago, NutmeggeRN said:

26 years in and I am still learning!

35 and still learning! Every day!!

On 1/27/2020 at 4:55 PM, BiscuitRN said:

All the advice above is great.  

At my first job orientation (private duty/home health for vent patients) we had a lesson called "What could go wrong?" where we were given increasingly ridiculous scenarios.  "Your vented patient is asleep when you discover the kitchen has burst into flames. You go to evacuate the patient but realize you need their back up batteries.  After grabbing the back up batteries you see the fire has spread and you're unable to get to the patient without walking through the inflamed area.  What do you do?"  We were all coming up with ways to save the patient, put out the fire, jump over the fire and shove the patient out the window.  Then our instructor says "you're all wrong.  The right answer is call 9-1-1.  If you haven't been trained on what to do and the situation is dire you call 9-1-1."

That sticks with me.  We can only do so much. We know what we know, we should keep our emergency supplies handy, we should create an efficient system for getting around our school in an emergency, learn about all the situations, but sometimes we'll just have to call 9-1-1. 

Such good advice!!! We only have limited supplies / equipment. Just remember your ABC's, have your go bag ready, do the best you can, call for help when you need it and stay calm (becuase those around you are sure to freak out - it's just the way it is in the school setting). 

Unfortunately, it takes being called to an emergency and getting that experience under your belt to make you feel better.