districts cut RNs

Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN · Apr 26, 2011

I am also lucky that my district is not cutting RNs this year. We also require BSNs at my district. I have my fingers crossed and I'm going to work on a backup plan, because there is no way I am going back to the hospital floor.

I agree that there are wonderful LVN and ADN school nurses out there, so the following is not meant to be negative in any way towards them. However, I think that having a BSN helps give school nurses a little "street cred" in the edication world. It puts us, education wise, on par with teachers and many other school staff. I think it helps us be thought of more as professionals in the school, even though LVNs and ADNs are certainly professionals as well. We often struggle enough to justify our role and the benefits to having a full time nurse at every school...I just think having the education equivalent to what is the base requirement for teaching helps us out in that regard.

momnurse23 · Apr 26, 2011

My district (in Georgia) hires LPNs for the individual schools with 1 RN "in charge." I am an RN BSN but get paid the same as an LPN. I knew this going in and am fine with it b/c it's what I expected. I love my job, my hours, and how good it is for family so to me it's worth it.

Neveranurseagain, RN · Apr 29, 2011

My district has layed off all the RN's but one, and replaced them with a health aide. And the health aide job description doesn't even require them to have taken CPR/First Aid!!! They are going to be task trained by the RN to handle diabetes, asthma, medical emergencies....

Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2011

We have always had a mix of BSN or MN nurses with health aides. This year our supervisor (Director of Sped) went before the Board and asked that nurses not be cut. Pretty decent, but we will see. They are mandated by IDEA to have the OT, PT, SLP, and they also make money for the district. I also heard there was some formula that calculated numbers of nurses needed by the number of teachers employed. According to that formula (with 1000 teachers and 17,000 kids) we would be alloted 2 nurses. We now have 12. As much as I would like to stay employed, I wouldn't want to be those two nurses :)

Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2011

Purplescrubs - you are so right about the BSN giving street cred. Its funny but I got credit for my Bachelors degree in Art History when I first started working in the schools, but had to wait for the legislature to allow us years of experience in our field, be it OT or PT or SLP or RN. I had about 15 years of nursing experience which now counts for 2 years worth of experience on the salary schedule. My Bachelors in Art History gets me within $500 per year of a Masters (it made me a BA + 90 credits). If I get my Master's, I'll be making almost as much as a PhD - because of those extra 90 credits. I got that Art History degree in 1985 and never made a cent off of it until I went to work in the school district :)

SchoolNurseBSN · May 2, 2011

My district has layed off all the RN's but one, and replaced them with a health aide. And the health aide job description doesn't even require them to have taken CPR/First Aid!!! They are going to be task trained by the RN to handle diabetes, asthma, medical emergencies....

Wow, task trained in an independent setting. It just blows me away. I think of the days that I have had to use every bit of my nursing education and critical thinking schools to figure out a plan for a student to keep them safe and at school......... and soon, so many of us are going to be replaced with people who are not even CPR / First Aid certified??? Wow, Can you imagine the massive amount of children that will be sent home for every tummy ache and bug bite? Or even worse, die right next to an AED....... :down: :mad:

Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN · May 2, 2011

Wow, task trained in an independent setting. It just blows me away. I think of the days that I have had to use every bit of my nursing education and critical thinking schools to figure out a plan for a student to keep them safe and at school......... and soon, so many of us are going to be replaced with people who are not even CPR / First Aid certified??? Wow, Can you imagine the massive amount of children that will be sent home for every tummy ache and bug bite? Or even worse, die right next to an AED.......

Again, I work in a district that uses health aids. I am responsible for what they do or don't do - they work under my license. I am responsible for the plans that keep them safe and at school - the health aid is not responsible for figuring out a plan to keep them in school. And they want kids to be in school as much as I do.

That said, I wouldn't want to be that one RN that is responsible for writing all those care plans and supervising all those health aides. And no one is going to die next to the AED - if a district has them, there will be a policy in place and training done. That is the point of the AED - anyone can use them.

SchoolNurseBSN · May 2, 2011

Again, I work in a district that uses health aids. I am responsible for what they do or don't do - they work under my license. I am responsible for the plans that keep them safe and at school - the health aid is not responsible for figuring out a plan to keep them in school. And they want kids to be in school as much as I do.
That said, I wouldn't want to be that one RN that is responsible for writing all those care plans and supervising all those health aides. And no one is going to die next to the AED - if a district has them, there will be a policy in place and training done. That is the point of the AED - anyone can use them.

I am assuming you are requiring your aides to be CPR / first aid trained. Not the case in the district that I posted my response about! I certainly did not mean to step on your toes.

Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN · May 2, 2011

I am assuming you are requiring your aides to be CPR / first aid trained. Not the case in the district that I posted my response about! I certainly did not mean to step on your toes.

No toe stepping implied :). I think it would be wonderful to have a nurse in every building, but that isn't going to happen anytime in the near future (or far future methinks). And yes our aides are CPR and first aid trained - we have someone come to one of our monthly nurses/aid meeting to do that every year for them.

On a similar note, one of the biggest surprises for me when I started school nursing was that every teacher isn't required to be CPR and first aid trained. When I was a junior in high school (and this was a tiny high school in a town of 1000 people in 1980) the school brought someone in to train us. So I just have been under the impression that all teachers were CPR trained. Our special ed teachers are, but not general ed. I know its a money things, but still...

SchoolNurseBSN · May 2, 2011

No toe stepping implied :). I think it would be wonderful to have a nurse in every building, but that isn't going to happen anytime in the near future (or far future methinks). And yes our aides are CPR and first aid trained - we have someone come to one of our monthly nurses/aid meeting to do that every year for them.
On a similar note, one of the biggest surprises for me when I started school nursing was that every teacher isn't required to be CPR and first aid trained. When I was a junior in high school (and this was a tiny high school in a town of 1000 people in 1980) the school brought someone in to train us. So I just have been under the impression that all teachers were CPR trained. Our special ed teachers are, but not general ed. I know its a money things, but still...

I agree, if you work around kids daily......you should be CPR / first aid trained. I at least, give everybody in my buiding a brief overview of the AED - how it works, where it is located, etc. When I follow up with them later, more than half have forgotten its location. Many state, I am not the nurse......I won't be dealing with any of that stuff. Now, I am only here 2 days a week with no aide at this point (position is open but unfilled).

I do have 3 people who are CPR certified. Hopefully, they will be here if something happens on one of my non-scheduled days. One of them (my PE coach and safety coordinator) often states he would probably be too nervous to remember what to do.