Do you interact with students outside of the office?

Dany102 · Mar 17, 2016

Hello Kittery,

There's a few things you could do if you want to get a bit more interaction with your school's students. I'm not sure how much your school's administration is doing but here are a few ideas...

1. Wellness or "healthy living" (this could include things like nutrition, physical activity, mental health, etc.);

2. Managing your stress (it seems all I hear is this new buzzword "mindfulness", which I relate to relaxation or meditation techniques);

3. Angry moments (recognizing what trigger someone's anger and how to channel it appropriately);

If you're looking for something outside your role as a school nurse, how about looking into providing basic First Aid training for the students? If you are a trained instructor, I am sure many would enjoy learning these skills. You could even learn how to teach that (looks good on a performance review). Depending on the age of the students, you could even push this all the way to EADs.

If you really want to challenge yourself, how about tackling suicide intervention or prevention? Although this might not be appropriate for all ages.

I'm sure if I think about it I can come up with a few more but you get the idea. It's "health" related, but on a slightly broader scale.

Dany

cindy_webb · Mar 17, 2016

High schools host blood drives, often needing nurses on site. You could also do a "wellness club" that focuses on healthy eating or wellness/stress tips for teenagers.

Kittery · Mar 17, 2016

Thanks for all the responses! You've given me lots of food for thought!

Farawyn · Mar 17, 2016

Hello Kittery,
There's a few things you could do if you want to get a bit more interaction with your school's students. I'm not sure how much your school's administration is doing but here are a few ideas...
1. Wellness or "healthy living" (this could include things like nutrition, physical activity, mental health, etc.);
2. Managing your stress (it seems all I hear is this new buzzword "mindfulness", which I relate to relaxation or meditation techniques);
3. Angry moments (recognizing what trigger someone's anger and how to channel it appropriately);
If you're looking for something outside your role as a school nurse, how about looking into providing basic First Aid training for the students? If you are a trained instructor, I am sure many would enjoy learning these skills. You could even learn how to teach that (looks good on a performance review). Depending on the age of the students, you could even push this all the way to EADs.
If you really want to challenge yourself, how about tackling suicide intervention or prevention? Although this might not be appropriate for all ages.
I'm sure if I think about it I can come up with a few more but you get the idea. It's "health" related, but on a slightly broader scale.
Dany

Edit reason: bleh

Tell us more about "bleh".

europe_nurse · Mar 17, 2016

Where I live it is a part of school nurses job description to give the kids education about all kinds of thing related to good health. We go to their classrooms 1-4x over the school year depending on age (the school has children from ages 6-16). The kids get talks about nutrion, physically activity, good mental health, self esteem, happiness, dental hygiene, safety, ... the list goes on. Then it is the puberty talk for the 11 year old and sex health for the 14 year olds. The 6 year old kids come to me in small groups for a talk about how they own their own bodies, that nobody is allowed touch them if they don't wan't to, that secrets should never make you feel bad and education about who they can talk to in case of any abuse. I talk to the 16 year old about the importance of knowing their own bodies in relation to things like cancer and how they can check breast, skin and testicules for signs of cancer and for the girls the importance of going to the screenings for breast and cervical cancer when they reach that age.

It can be a lot of work but I love this part of my job.

zombieghoast · Mar 17, 2016

The only thing that I did was run with a student for Girls on the Run. Apparently I was the only staff member that wasn't a coach to volunteer.

schoolnurse2015 · Mar 17, 2016

At my school, I run a "Red Cross Club" for 5th-8th grade. We meet once a week after school for about an hour, and someone from the Red Cross comes out and teachers about fire safety, disaster safety, blood drives, etc. They try to make games out of their lessons, so the kids really enjoy it. The Red Cross does the majority of the work, I just need to be there to be the staff sponsor.

bay area FNP-to-be · Mar 17, 2016

I'd say nutrition education, too. :) That's where I try to dedicate some of my extra time.

If you can't find the wellness committee, you could ask your nutrition director. HHFKA gives wellness committees a little more teeth and there might be overlap between nutrition and your school's wellness committee. Kind of depends on your school's culture, too. If you're looking for things during the day, there might be a way to have lunch with the kids as an opportunity for nutrition education. If there are groups of students, you could also work with them to make posters, etc. to put up in the lunch line or lunch room.

We also have physicians, psychologists and other health care professionals come to family meetings to lead different workshops we give. (Nutrition, when to keep your sick child home, and other wellness-oriented topics)

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2016

I cover some afterschool tutoring for my MS students. I also run the backstage crew for our musical every year, and am the yearbook advisor (which I feel into after my boss learned I went to yearbook camp in HS - yep that is an actual thing). I started teaching health throughout the year to every grade (7-12), so I have gotten a lot of chances to see kids when they are not in my office.

These interactions actually help me when they do come to my office - I've observed them in the natural school habit and know if they are really sick or hurting .

Dany102 · Mar 18, 2016

Edit reason: bleh
Tell us more about "bleh".

Well... As to that, Farawyn... I suppose "bleh" would be the noise one makes when realizing proof-reading is a perishable skill. That and also forgetting some information.

Interestingly, it is also the noise most female bonobos make when rejecting a fruit, offered as part of the mating ritual, which doesn't meet their satisfaction. :whistling:

Dany

Farawyn · Mar 18, 2016

Well... As to that, Farawyn... I suppose "bleh" would be the noise one makes when realizing proof-reading is a perishable skill. That and also forgetting some information.
Interestingly, it is also the noise most female bonobos make when rejecting a fruit, offered as part of the mating ritual, which doesn't meet their satisfaction.
Dany

Tell me more about how you know that little tidbit...

Dany102 · Mar 18, 2016

Tell me more about how you know that little tidbit...

(Is that a reel I'm hearing? Oh well...)

Hmm... Let's see... I'm a closeted Nat Geo and PBS freak (?) :)

Dany