I am a new school nurse. I have previous experience on a peds floor and home health but as we all know, the school is a totally different setting. I was kind of thrown into this position with no training and the previous school nurse was not informative, and I did not have an orientation at the school because I work for a company that the school contracts. I would REALLY REALLY APPRECIATE anyone who would take me under their wing, maybe send any information about immunizations how to organize it or tips about school nursing in general.
There is a document on there that explains what makes an immunizations dose valid or not, as you will have to count out the timing and spacing of doses, not just the number of doses of a particular immunization given. Sometimes there are also exceptions to the rules with number of doses or spacing, which the footnotes of the document (Combined schedule format, birth -18 years and catch up) spell out. When in doubt, your local health department nurses will be happy to review a record for or with you.
Pay close attention to the AFTER the 4th birthday part and the spacing intervals between the doses. Here in FL (unfortunately) we do kick kids out of school if they don't have the proper vaccines after ample notice, and usually that is the cause - or the TdaP at age 11/12.
"LOUISIANA STATE LAW requires prior to school entry: 2 doses of MMR, 3 Hepatitis B, 2 Varicella and booster doses of DTaP and Polio vaccineson or after the 4th birthday and prior to school entry. A preschool dose is not necessary if the 4th dose of DTaP and the 3rd dose of IPV (provided it isadministered at least 6 months after dose 2) are administered after the 4th birthday. Sixth graders (11 -12 years of age) are required: 1 Tdap, 2 VAR, 2MMR, 3HBV, 1 MCV. Entry for institutions of higher learning requires 2 doses of MMR, 1 Td/Tdap and 2 doses of MCV4 OR 1 dose, if first dose was given on or afterage 16."
I am a Louisiana School Nurse also! Message me your email and I can walk you through the process of immunizations! I can also inform you of the state mandated screenings. We do not have a State School Nurse consultant.
You need to get access to LINKS. If you are in my area, I can put you in touch with my contact. I am always looking to reach out to other Louisiana nurses. You just missed our state conference, it was last weel.
Specializes in Psych, Peds, Education, Infection Control.
Check out the That's So Fetch! thread. You can shout out there. Welcome and good luck.
Y'all out here still trying to make fetch happen...
But to OP, welcome! This forum is THE BEST. They were invaluable when I was a (lurking) school nurse...and now that I'm in peds psych, I still love coming here for the best discussions and hilarious folks.
Y'all out here still trying to make fetch happen...
But to OP, welcome! This forum is THE BEST. They were invaluable when I was a (lurking) school nurse...and now that I'm in peds psych, I still love coming here for the best discussions and hilarious folks.
You have to have a certain number of posts before you can private message another user on here. Unfortunately, I do not know off the top of my head how many posts you need to have to be able to do that- I think 10 or 15?
I started in January, so I'm still in the process of being baptized by fire (1 influenza outbreak, 1 Noro outbreak that closed the school, and yesterday I was just told 2 of my kgs have pertussis)
We use a program for our vaccines here, but I'm also gathering the info for our incoming class of kindergarteners, so I have an excell sheet that I use to mark who is compliant, who I have talked to about being non compliant and if/what the response was.
SiwanRN
148 Posts
Hi! Neighborhood public health nurse lurker here (I wore pink today!). I don't live in Louisiana, but you may find this reference very handy:
Birth-18 Years and Catchup Immunization Schedules for Providers | CDC
There is a document on there that explains what makes an immunizations dose valid or not, as you will have to count out the timing and spacing of doses, not just the number of doses of a particular immunization given. Sometimes there are also exceptions to the rules with number of doses or spacing, which the footnotes of the document (Combined schedule format, birth -18 years and catch up) spell out. When in doubt, your local health department nurses will be happy to review a record for or with you.
Good luck!