HELP new school nurse/immunizations

NutmeggeRN, BSN · Apr 4, 2017

Oh, you have found a wealth of information support and lots of humor here!

Are your immunizations in a computer program? if so, can you run a report to see who has what? IT should be able to help with that. If not, maybe start with printing all of them and reviewing one by one. Tedious, but then you know you put your eyes on all of them.

Otherwise, I would pull eah chart and do a review. Print your state requirements as a reference. Set asise those that you have ? on but eyeball them all.

As am the 3rd school is my district, (one ES, 1 MS and me in HS), I get rid of all the extra copies and keep only the most up to date ones. I don't get rid of any that have any other data, but I bet you will find there are lots of extra copies of many things you do not need. That will make moving forward easier. Also you may pick up on things that you were unaware of. Time consuming and tedious but it will pay off in the long run.

And you must wear Pink on Wednesday or sit at the table with the not cool kids!! :roflmao:

Farawyn · Apr 4, 2017

Welcome!!!

No question is stupid. We are here to help.

What grades are you the nurse for?

Yes, wear pink tomorrow! Be fetch!

bandaidsplease · Apr 4, 2017

Thank you so much for the response!! I knew this was the right place to go. I feel relieved that I have support through this website. Warning I may have lots of questions but i definitely appreciate it!! I have grades k-7th i believe next school year I will have 8th grade as well.

Cattz, ADN · Apr 4, 2017

bandaids- So glad you came here. Take a deep breath. How many kids do you have? Remembering back to my early days...many moons ago. I very much remember being overwhelmed and clueless about immunizations. I called my State Area Immunization person and told them my story. After we visited awhile, I asked them to send one of their people to the school to look over all the shot records and tell me what was needed by who. This worked very well. I also would use your County Health Department. They have nurses who know immunizations like the back of their hand. Get that/those nurses e-mail addresses and put them on speed dial. Also, if you have a State School Nurse Consultant...that would be a very good person to make contact with. What state are you in?

I think I can speak for many of us here. At first it looks and feels impossible. But, once you see several records. You will be able to figure it out more easily.

Until then....Here is a bigggg ole huggggggggg for you!! ((((((x)))))) Make sure you find your pink shirt/socks/jacket/whatever so you will be sure and wear it tomorrow. We are waaaay cool to sit with :)

OldDude · Apr 4, 2017

Welcome! Most states follow the CDC immunization guidelines, with some variation. PK can get confusing. What state are you in?

BSNmommyof2 · Apr 4, 2017

Welcome! I am also a newbie who walked into this position with no orientation or continued district support. This forum has been invaluable to my sanity and practice. I would follow advice given already. I ended up printing a report from our EHR-SNAP, and going from there. Lots of cross referencing from report and hard copies. It's tedious but does get easier as you become more familiar with what is required.

MHDNURSE · Apr 5, 2017

What state are you in? I know in MA, there is an immunization survey for K and 7th grade. I had NO idea when I started my first year and only found out a week before the survey was due. It was super stressful b/c I had to submit a form to the state with immunization status for every K kid in my school. Very tedious. So find out if your state has anything like that. MA is in October. Also look up screening requirements (hearing/vision, scoliosis, BMI) for each grade- depending on the size of your school, that could be a LOT of work/planning. Buy the book "School Nursing, A Comprehensive Text" by Janice Selekman. GREAT reference. Ask questions here. No question is is a stupid question and there are a lot of different ways to handle the same issue so it's always really nice to ask here and hear how many of us have different ideas of how to deal with the same issue :)

Flare, ASN, BSN · Apr 5, 2017

Indeed! Welcome and never hesitate to sound off on us!

Many states have an online database of vaccines that children have received. It's handy, but is only as complete as the doctors putting in the info. My own kid still shows up as missing a polio. Plus it only works for kids enrolled into it - so out of state transfers and such won't necessarily be in it unless they've been to a doctor that has enrolled them and had inputted their info. I love doctors that do this :inlove: And you of course have to apply to the state to get access to that system.

Of course if your state doesn't have a system like this, all that info is a moot point.

bandaidsplease · Apr 5, 2017

I am so thankful I have found all of this support!! I am a nurse in Louisiana, and hoping to get into contact with the immunization consultant, but it has proven difficult. Please feel free to continue sending any information on immunizations or any guidance in general. I definitely need all of the help I can get. I finally feel like I am not alone!! So are you guys wearing pink!? :geek:

MrNurse(x2), ADN · Apr 5, 2017

So are you guys wearing pink!?

Check out the That's So Fetch! thread. You can shout out there. Welcome and good luck.

Amethya · Apr 5, 2017

Make sure you print and save your states immunization requirements, just in case you need a reference point.

Keep an eye on supplies

Make or buy a visitor's log

Make a medication log and make sure you have a sign out sheet for medications.

have plenty of ice packs!

If you have a way to talk to the person in charge of the nurse's, introduce yourself. They can be a guide if they are.

Make friends with other nurses in your district, they can be good allies later on!