Have a job interview for School Nurse- Questions?

[SunnyPupRN]

Hi--

I have been having a rough time finding work since I was hurt in March and lost my job as a Psych nurse. It's crunch time, I'm running out of savings, so I applied for a school nurse position with the county. They advertised for $28/hr but then called and said the real salary was $16/hr (no explanation) with benefits so they were doing call backs to see who was still interested. I'm in no position to turn anything down so I said YES.

What kind of questions can I expect in this interview? Is there any particular way to prepare?

Thanks!

SunnyPupRN

[lilia123]

As a former school nurse now looking for a psychiatric position. I'll help as much as I can. I used to do community nursing working with adults and children..so any prior experience working with children is an asset. You will be updating health records, and doing first aide to students and staff so any medical experience you have is beneficial..Since I was very interested in school nursing, i told them i wanted to get my school nurse certification ASAP, and she suggested the University to go to. I worked with another nurse who trained me very well. It was my past working experience as an Rn x8 yrs in clinics, and homes that seemed to be an asset to the nursing director. You also have to ascertain which kids are really sick and who is lying or has other problems . You should play up your Psche backround..in fact school nursing was alot of Psych which intrigued me further to seek a psychiatric position. Good luck to you, i still miss some of the kids I took care of :redbeathe

[SunnyPupRN]

Thanks! I didn't get to read your response til after the interview It was much tougher than I expected. First, it was in front of a panel of representatives from the Board of Health, and they tested me on childhood immunizations (ummm...really didn't remember what ages were vax'd for what diseases) and how to cath and what to do if finding out a student has meningitis, how I resolved conflicts, did I ever make presentations, how would I teach a 7 year old to manage her diabetes, and other scenarios. I was quite intimidated by the rounds of questioning and felt rather unprepared. I tried to compensate by expressing willingness to learn whtever necessary and be motivated to do refreshers. I also reminded that I am bilingual (hope that scored some points). Incidentally, what would your rsponse have been the the meningitis ques? I said that I would want to know first if it was bacterial or viral and with whom the student had been in contact, while protecting privacy, let those people know they needed to be evaluated?

[lilia123]

sorry about your experience, you can only learn and grow from it. I was interviewed by one person who was the nursing director..About the meningitis question..off the top of my head, i would first see if they had a fever..if child had a fever plus complaining of neck pain or could not bend head down to chin..I would google meningitis on computer and when parents came to pick up student I would tell them they should take them to the emergecy room to r/o meningitis. AS to the protocol of what to do with a confirmed case, I dont know...This was an urban school, maybe i was lucky at the time...google school nursing..there was another website that was also good advice for the working school nurse. i would try to find the answers to those questions..because you do have to know them...i learned on the job!