Hello Strangers! New job, please advise!

[bandaidsplease]

Hello all of my spectacular and knowledgeable school nurses!

It has been about a year since I have posted (don't worry Ive been keeping up with all the threads!) and I am in need of some guidance once again. So last year I was a brand new school nurse asking for tips and help with many different things. WELL, its a year later and I still feel like I need guidance. Thankfully I have a solid pediatric background, because to this day I was never properly trained- no protocols, no info on immunizations, how to deal with various situations etc. I have recently applied for a new school nurse position and I am intimidated to say the least. The school I am currently at has 400 kids this new school has 700+. They say the school nurse takes care of 50+ kids a day with 27 daily meds. GUYS HOW AM I GOING TO MANAGE THAT MANY KIDS. Also emergency action plans, safety action plans, staff medication teaching--- where do you guys get this information? Please add any tips or tricks dealing with your personal organization, immunization deadlines, screenings, communication with new staff. PLEASE ANYTHING WILL HELP. I appreciate every single one of you.

[OldDude]

My school is PK-5, 687 enrolled as of yesterday, I currently have 26 daily scheduled meds, plus prn, and a Type 1 diabetic I check three times a day. On a busy day when the weather is good for recess I'll see 40 kids so there's where I think you could make a change. Work on changing the campus mindset like not allowing students to leave the clinic with ice packs, getting parents in involved in the frequent flyers, don't "instruct" kids to return later if they're not feeling better (knowing that they won't stay away if they feel bad anyway), etc. Good Luck.

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

I have 2300 darlings and I'm playing zone defense...

Seriously though - that 50 kids - it's everything from "I have a papercut" to collapsing with asthma. So maybe not high intensity every day. 27 medication doses seems like a lot but that may just be the age.

Does the school have computerized software that will help track immunizations? If not, don't take the job! We have Skyward and I can see at a glance which kids on the catch-up schedule need what and when.

The health conditions questions - does the EHR capture that data? I couldn't do this job if I couldn't print a report and follow up. Because I cannot lay hands on 2300 folders.

I work registration and try to catch the immunization compliance issues before we start school. That translates into "I work four days for free" but we have two days we need SDCE hours for and there's always a snow day where I say "I worked for free this summer so use that." It's worth it to me to begin the year organized. I know a lot of nurses won't do that, and that's OK.

Do you have to do screening (hearing/vision/scoliosis)? At what age? Will you have helpers?

The first 90 days are all about getting things in order. Then it's mostly coasting. Right now I'm doing my third contacts with the nine families whose kids failed their vision screen back in October (we make three contacts in different media before we close the referral).