Help is needed

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Emergency Room, School Nurse.

I recently (like started yesterday) became a school nurse I have completely changed fields from working as floor nurse med/surg, ER, to working as Infectious Disease Nurse to now being a school nurse to high school students if anyone has any advice I am an open ear.

The last person that worked at said school was not a nurse so I am eccentrically learning as I go and having to figure everything out.

what are the basics I have plenty of band aides she was well equipped for a cut and everything to take vital signs.

What do I need to make this a well working clinic?

are there any programs out there that offer freebes to schools.

what are good contacts to keep on hand.

All help is better than the no help that I have from the former health coordinator.

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Congratulations on your new job! The National Association of School Nurses has some good resources.

Check out their website: Back-to-School - National Association of School Nurses

I hope you love it!

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

You can review similar posts but the short of it is student health and safety first, state requirements, district administrative requirements followed by campus requirements. Welcome to the farm!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Emergency Room, School Nurse.

thanks OldDude. I am really excited to be in this position but feel kind of lost since it is only my 2nd day and I have to weed through all the paper work that is in the filing cabinet with no rhyme or reason.

I have only this week to get ready as school starts next tuesday!!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

"Eccentrically learning" ? Can't figure out the meaning of that..........

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Specializes in NCSN.

Welcome!

This forum saves my sanity most days.

I also came into a mess file wise, and if you have the time, take a day to be your purge day. I feel like I ended up shredding the contents of an entire file cabinet because it was records from the early 2000s and late 90s. Figure out if your district does save things like medication administration logs, seizure logs and the like and send anything they will take their way. I felt a lot better clearing out the old.

And you need more that just supplies for small cuts. Bags for ice packs(do you have an ice maker or somewhere you can make ice), splints, slings/triangle bandages, tick removal, saline for eye wash, pill crusher, ace bandages...and more that I can't think of off the top of my head at the moment.

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Specializes in school nursing.

This is exactly the situation I was in this time last summer, so I totally get it!

The first few days focus solely on filing/paperwork. Making sure you are organized from the get will make everything else smoother. Keep a running lit of kiddos that still require necessary paperwork so that you can hand them out on the first day- the sooner in the school year kids/parents get these, I find the sooner (and more likely) they are to return them.

Next- know your policies. There will be parents on the FIRST day of school that ask questions- What meds can you give students? Can they carry their EpiPen/inhaler? Where do you keep the medications? What's the attendance policy? My kid has a fever, can they come to school? Everything under the sun, they will ask.

Do you know if you will be utilizing a computer based program to track visits, or paper logs? Depending on the answer to this, I would either start to familiarize yourself with the computer system or create your health log and figuring out the logistics of that.

Sure, bandaids are important but there is a lot more that goes into a nurse office. Make sure kids have water readily available. Is there a cot? Do you have supplies for girls who may need them during that time of the month? Other things I can think of off the top of my head to stock up on:

  • wax for braces
  • saline solution for contacts
  • eyeglass repair kit
  • flashlight
  • any OTC able to give via school policy
  • cough drops
  • tweezers/scissors/magnifying glass
  • all size ice packs
  • gauze/tape/tefla/coflex
  • cotton balls/qtips/vaseline/tongue depressors
  • cpr mask
  • heating pad
  • ice packs
  • batteries for thermometer/Oximeter

Also, as you look through the physicals (remember, I said this is good to do first?) you'll see what your SPECIFIC population of students may need:

For example, you have a diabetic student? You should have extra supplies (glucometer/test strips/ketone strips/alcohol swabs/fast carbs)

Once you have all of that sorted out, I would start looking into your state requirements for mandated screenings so you can start planning that for the fall.

Feel free to PM me with any questions!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Emergency Room, School Nurse.

Thank you all for the positive feed back I am glad that I am not the only one who is going through this or has gone through this!!

I have taken most of today to clean out the paper work as more is coming in since we start school on the 22nd of this month. It was a tough process cleaning out the old paper work and trying to figure out what needs to stay.

so far I have 2 drawers of the 8 emptied and 2 organized which was so much fun!!

Now on to my next task of updating the PPE's and first aid kits. then I have to find my bio boxes and bags along with the sharps containers.

Everything just seems to overwhelm thinking about all that i have to do get done in 7 days.

Again thank you all for the help I will definitely be using the suggestions!! keep that positive vibe coming!!!

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