Don't jump on me! But i'm bored already

Specialties School

Published

I just started as a school nurse at the beginning of this month and I'm already bored of my position. The days feel so long even though I only work 7-345 because there isn't much for me to do but see students throughout the day and then organize my office. I hate to sound like I'm complaining. But I really do hope this feeling goes away soon. I left my old job in LTC because of potential burnout and being cancelled left and right every week. Now I miss the excitement from the residents and actually being busy. Weird, right? I'm just hoping someone can lend a helpful word of advice. I'm also pregnant so this job is perfect for the baby schedule wise. As I'm off every weekend, holidays, whenever the kids are off, snow days, and 6 weeks in the summer and its all paid. I just don't know what to do. I'm sitting in my office now as I type this. Also my previous schedule was 32 hours 7-330 so I also feel like my days are so long now due to commuting into Boston which takes an hour to get here and an hour and a half to get home. I'm sort of miserable.

Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Everyone, please just talk about the topic w/o making it personal.

Thread has been cleaned up.

Carry on (use the ignore feature ... it saves squeezing of the coronary arteries). :)

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@ MHDNURSE, BSN, MSN, RN, NP

Idk, the school is new but has been here since 2012. I'm not the first school nurse to work here but apparently the first full time one to just work solely out of this building alone. Previous nurses were either working part-time or working multiple schools- between the various 3 sister schools. Also they didn't last long according to the students. There were 3 last year total throughout the year.

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@ MHDNURSE, BSN, MSN, RN, NP

Idk, the school is new but has been here since 2012. I'm not the first school nurse to work here but apparently the first full time one to just work solely out of this building alone. Previous nurses were either working part-time or working multiple schools- between the various 3 sister schools. Also they didn't last long according to the students. There were 3 last year total throughout the year.

My guess is none of them "owned it" so it never got done. It's easy to brush things under the rug if you are PT and think no one will notice ;)

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@MHDNURSE, BSN, MSN, RN, NP

That is probably what happened. I was speaking to my DOO today, we had a mini meeting. So I set up all my trainings for the week of October 23rd so that I can get the Foundations of Nursing Practice and Mandated Screenings completed. Then I will start the screenings the first week of November. I have to get a hold of the hearing machine since there is one for 3 schools to use so I emailed the director of special projects about that. Then he told me to get started on the 7th grade immunizations later on today. So I will go through each student's chart and ensure they have the recommended immunizations and if not write down their names so I can contact their parents at a later time to get the process started to get said information in. Already more to keep me busy so I'm happy about that. I'm also going to start going to the classrooms of the 3 students with scheduled meds to give it to them there in the afternoon so I can get out of this office and walk around.

Big improvement from yesterday when I was just reading forums on Allnurses all day trying to figure out what can I do to kill time. lol

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I work at a small private school--I volunteered to teach 9th grade girls Health and we have a blast. I also try to do a health event twice a year--last year I did a backpack weigh in that dealt with spine health and the correct way to pack and wear a backpack... The kids and parents gave great reviews on that event . I talk with coaches regarding concussions and guest speak as a community helper in the first grade. There are lots of things your could do to promote the nurse role in the school

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Specializes in School Nurse, Pediatrics, Surgical.

Evaluate what you thought school nursing was like. It is not hospital pace. Look at your population that will play into your day. Look at NASN website, look into your charting system, child find, join the child study team, find out which students have 504 plans or need them. Brush up on your schools policies, documents, is any updating needed? Create your a webpage with health documents if you don't have one. If you do does anything need updating? Does your school have a newsletter? Take part in that. Do you have action plans you send to teachers? How are things communicated? Look at creating an online or charting system if you guys aren't using one already. Is everything there that needs to be? It is not the same skills as LTC/Hospital obviously and its about personal preference but hopefully school nursing is a good fit for ya. The schedule is the best!

How many students are at your school? What grades?

I work 3 days a week at two schools. One has over 1000 and the other school has about 550. The needs are not the same between the schools so my days look different. I would not work more than 3 days at my smaller school as to me the need is not there. Student population makes a difference on your day.

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@Rubor, BSN, RN

Thanks!

The school I work at is a charter middle school. Small population. Grades 5th-8th. The nurse's don't participate in 504 plans nor would I volunteer. Those and IEP planning and meetings take place well after school hours are finished. No offense but I already work here 5 days a week 7-345, I don't want to stay extra. I'm pregnant and tired and frankly just want to go home after work. There is already a charting system in place here. Updating needs to happen for 7th grade immunizations but I'm waiting for the nurse's meeting that takes place next week Friday, so that I can learn how to do that. No, the school doesn't have a newsletter and I cannot create one. No action plans are sent to the teacher. I was thrown into this role with no real training. So no one ever told me that action plans had to be sent to them. I have all the asthma action plans here in the filing system I created. If anything pertinent about a student comes up that will affect the classroom environment, I send out an email to the teacher. Things are communicated via email and the online charting system here. The schedule is okay so far to me. M-F is long and I've worked 32 hours 4x a week for years like over 5 so it's been a big adjustment going from that to 5x a week straight in a row. I'm just looking forward to my first holiday off which is Monday. I can sleep in :) I've already committed myself to staying until maternity leave due to the baby on the way. I will look for a new nursing gig after I get settled with the new baby. I have a feeling that my sentiments about this job aren't going to change but for now I will make the most of it until my time is up. But thanks for all the advice. You guys are the reason I'm not looking for a new job right now. Yesterday due to it being so slow I ended up going over to the administrative side and helping them label dictionaries as they have interim assessments (IA's) coming up next week and that's a big deal. So if I get bored that's what I will do (help them over on the administrative side) until it's time to start on the screenings and immunizations. Thanks again!

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@janetpa

Thanks for all the great tips! I've already committed myself to staying til maternity leave (see reply post above this one in response to Rubor). So no more complaining out of me. I will make the most of it until that time. I will find out what I can do to promote the nurse role here at my school. There is interim assessments coming up next week so the school is primarily focused on that currently. I help out whenever I'm bored and have downtime in between seeing students. Thanks again!

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Specializes in School Nurse, Pediatrics, Surgical.

Sounds like you have a plan! Not all schools are like that. It really depends on the population/needs and nurse involvement. Anywho, congrats on the baby! Enjoy! Let me us which direction you end up taking.

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Sounds like you have a plan! Not all schools are like that. It really depends on the population/needs and nurse involvement. Anywho, congrats on the baby! Enjoy! Let me us which direction you end up taking.

Thank you! I will :)

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