Holy pay cut shock!

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  1. Do you get paid way below average as a school nurse?

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I'm sure this has been up here before...but I've never browsed the school nurses as I recently became one. I'm an LPN of 2 Year's, prior medic, and medical assistant. My job I just left at a rehabilitation hospital paid 28/hr...when they offered me the school nurse job she said 15/hr!!!! Minimum wage here is 10! I was kind of, well, offended! I got them up to 17.85/hr plus all breaks paid off, regular benefits, and a pension plan. Just curious...did everyone else experience this incredibly low pay in school nursing? I couldn't believe they could ever fill the position at 5 dollars over minimum wage!?

The low pay is why I sub as a health room nurse (I do love the work!), but my "real" job is LTC.

If my financial situation changes, then I may change jobs

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What are do you live in???

Im surprised you made 28/hr as a LPN. But, yeah Im going to assume there isn't much room for errors compared to working in the hospital setting.aside from the few glucose checks and maybe some insulin. other than that you're giving icepacks and lollipops out.

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.
.aside from the few glucose checks and maybe some insulin. other than that you're giving icepacks and lollipops out.

Umm....No.

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What are do you live in???

aside from the few glucose checks and maybe some insulin. other than that you're giving icepacks and lollipops out.

Ah, if only. I'm guessing you think we sit and read, eat bon-bons, and take naps too.

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No compared to average school nursing salaries but yes compared to another RN position. HOwever the trade off is worth more than its weight in gold. The hours, the reduced mental and physical stress, calendar, nights, holidays and weekends off, get to wear scrubs, your smarter than everyone else around you...yes everyone, eligible for retirement savings, pension benefits, union benefits, the list goes on and on. However if your doing this as your sole source of income than it will simply not work.

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Either your school has kids that hardly ever need a nurse or you are not a school nurse. School nurses is far more than ice packs and I never give out lollipops. Heck, I refuse to give out peppermints. I have been a RN for 14 years. This is my 4th year as a school nurse. I have worked adult med-surg, clinic, case management and for me school nursing has been one of the hardest jobs i ever had between having to do Heimlich on a choking kid, kids with Asthma attack, kids with anxiety, depression, cutting themselves, anorexics/bulmics, heart issues, sickle cell crisis at school, kids having anaphylactic reactions. Totally crazy parents who do not understand school nurses must have DR orders for many things. We can't do just anything. All the hotlines that have to be done because of child abuse/neglect. That is just the beginning.

There is typically only one school nurse in a school that have them and we can find ourselves having to make a quick decision without ANY support until an ambulance arrives.

Please do not under estimate the job of a school nurse. We are nurses too and we have to use our assessment skills and be on top of it too.

Yes we are under paid, but considering the trade off of the hours, no holidays, no summers unless I want it's a sacrifice well worth it while my child is still young.

I'm a divorced parent and do not get any financial help from my EX. I am making it on a school nurse salary by living within my means and not keeping up with the joneses. I'm a minimalist, and bargain shop. Everyone has a different standard of living with different needs though, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

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It's one of my favorite forums because they mostly seem so laid back in an awesome kind of matter of fact way.

^This is what makes it clear that the comment below is NOT from a school nurse.

aside from the few glucose checks and maybe some insulin. other than that you're giving icepacks and lollipops out.

This is condescending and unnecessary. Perhaps you did not mean this to sound as offensive as it did but please consider how this would sound to your audience.

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Wondering what PEN is? :bookworm:

School nursing sounds kind of fun if you love peds. :nurse:

It's one of my favorite forums because they mostly seem so laid back in an awesome kind of matter of fact way. That style is really good for kids too! :inlove:

Rewarding would probably be a more accurate word than fun but hey fun counts too, right?

I'm sure this has been up here before...but I've never browsed the school nurses as I recently became one. I'm an LPN of 2 Year's, prior medic, and medical assistant. My job I just left at a rehabilitation hospital paid 28/hr...when they offered me the school nurse job she said 15/hr!!!! Minimum wage here is 10! I was kind of, well, offended! I got them up to 17.85/hr plus all breaks paid off, regular benefits, and a pension plan. Just curious...did everyone else experience this incredibly low pay in school nursing? I couldn't believe they could ever fill the position at 5 dollars over minimum wage!?

Salaries are quite varied for school nurses. Some places pay their nurses on the teacher pay scale, some offer much lower.

Where I am at, the building nurses make an hourly wage that starts lower than new nurse wages at local hospitals/SNFs and are on the support staff contract. Certified school nurses are paid on the teacher contract with accompanying salary/benefits.

It's always been very frustrating to me that a nursing license is worth less to the school system than a teaching license. And more than that, that comparable professionals in the building (psychologist, physical therapist) are also paid significantly more.

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Someone has always accepted that rate for whatever reason.

You should be glad we do, if you have kids.

Considering I work 30 hours a week in a 10 month job with a ridiculous amount of off time, I'll take it. I get low pay compared to hospital nurses, but do alright compared to most other school nurses and other perks.

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Yep my primary motivation is to earn a paycheck from my job. If not I'd spend all my free time helping the sick like Mother Theresa. I ain't Mother Theresa just Spanked. In fact I'd do it for free. By the way do your spend all your free time helping the sick or working for free?

Lots of us will supplement with per diem. Keeps your fingers in the pie, so to speak.

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What are do you live in???

Im surprised you made 28/hr as a LPN. But, yeah Im going to assume there isn't much room for errors compared to working in the hospital setting.aside from the few glucose checks and maybe some insulin. other than that you're giving icepacks and lollipops out.

I have a lollipop for ya.

Bend over, and Oh... welcome to AN, newb.

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Specializes in school nursing, ortho, trauma.

So, I think in a lot of areas we all take pay cuts - probably about 10 to 15% overall to get into school nursing with the thought that with summers off and knowing that you get paid holidays and a pension that it will eventually all begin to somewhat even out. However, some areas and districts still treat their health services as little more than baby sitting for the kids that are vomiting. Then again, these areas are often the same areas that don't have their nurses in their unions and on their teacher's salary guides.

Yes, I think 15/ hr is low for a school nurse. I think 17 and change is better, but still low, especially given that minimum wage was just raised to $13 in NY. But These factors are also influenced heavily on what part of the country you're in, so the same $17 /hr may get you a lot father than in my home state.

Many of us take summer work on - i work summer school, mostly because the rate of pay is ridiculously high and i end up getting ahead for september. (and it's only 4 hrs a day, AND i can come in my shorts and sneaks!) but I have worked home care for the summer, have worked with various agencies, and hospitals. I have even done some non medical things. I have even taken some summers off.

Good luck, should you decide to take the position. Contrary to what some may believe it's not all bandaids, ice packs and lollipops. We get sick children integrated into our school with real medical issues. We get hundreds of children, some of us thousands, that we are expected to be familiar with off the tops of our heads. We get argumentative parents and end up with a darned if you do darned if you don't situation more often than we would please. We have massive amounts of paperwork and followup with the state, but it's not all just medical related. No, that would be too easy. We have educational standards that we ourselves must comply with so we must complete inane tasks like student growth and benchmarks which are really hard for us to properly assess data when we see the students not as a pack, but as individuals. You will do great should join us - and though school nursing is typically a solo sport, you are never truly alone. We're just a click away.

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