How long was your training for school nursing?

RatherBHiking, BSN, RN · Oct 21, 2019

I didn't get to follow anyone. I was on my own right from the start. . Our nurses now get someone working with them for a couple of weeks at least and a mentor for a year. Much more support thankfully.

SaltineQueen · Oct 21, 2019

I didn't follow anyone. One of our other nurses came and sat with me for about half a day and hit the high points. I came in near semester break, so the paperwork part was pretty much done. I was able to ask questions & figure stuff out to prepare for the following fall as the rest of the year went on. Your priorities should be: kids with serious medical conditions, kids with daily meds, daily walk-ins. The rest will fall into place. Reach out to other nurses in your district. Ask them to remind you if deadlines are coming up soon. Ask them periodically what "other" stuff they're working on that maybe you should be, too.

CampyCamp, RN · Oct 21, 2019

The secretary of the building I went to my first day showed me where to find keys and standing orders/policies and verbalized a few that she knew and impacted her job like sending kids home and excluding kids. Then, an hour or so later, a CSN came and showed me the charting system and how to handle incoming paperwork. What to enter, what to pile, what to file. She sat with me for the morning, as a resource, while doing CSN reports and other tasks on her computer. After that, when I went to a different building, a secretary gave me keys and I found the rest. Every nurse has a different lay out of treatment supplies and binders of info.

cid1 · Oct 21, 2019

When I was a sub I oriented in each building for 1/2 day. When I got full time job in my building I am in now, I hadn't subbed here in over 2 years and got NO orientation. Just figured it out as I went.

Eleven011 · Oct 21, 2019

I was hired over summer break, so the outgoing nurse came in for 3 hours and showed me the behind the scenes stuff. I had been a sub for her previously, so I knew the day to day stuff. Still had to figure out quite a bit on my own.

iggywench, BSN, RN · Oct 21, 2019

I was hired over summer break. I was handed the keys, and given half a day to train on the computer system. The rest I figured out on my own. Now, my district offers more training, and a two-year mentorship program.

AdobeRN · Oct 21, 2019

No training for me - I started as a sub, my first sub job I came into the clinic for an hour - basically the nurse showed me how the computer program worked. When I was hired FT - the admin just figured since I had already been subbing I didn't need any orientation.

Our district does train the new nurses hired at the beginning of the year now. New subs are sent to some of the busier clinics to train for 4 hours or more if they need it.

KH_RN6, BSN · Oct 21, 2019

Very slim! I started in August as a new school nurse. My school was banking on their at the time Part time nurse to train me but she quit a few weeks before school started. Soooo I got minimal.

They threw me in the office and said " we don't really know what the nurses did before you, but here you go!" I'm a quick learner, and luckily school nursing seems to be a "make it your own" type of deal.

Our lead RN came in and showed me some of the charting stuff. By the time she actually got over here though I had pretty much figured it out.

I'm going to suggest at our next nurses meeting is to have some sort of "day" where they can go over the very basics in one day. I was soooo overwhelmed my first few days (before kids even showed up) that I caught myself crying in my office wondering if I made a mistake changing jobs. ? BUT it got better and now I can't see myself going back to the hospital. I stayed PRN at my previous job but really am having a hard time picking up shifts. lol

SandIsMyGlitterRN, BSN, RN · Oct 21, 2019

1 day with the nurse I was replacing

guest464345 · Oct 22, 2019

No training. Zero. Basically I got there and they handed me keys. Figured it out using my wits, the kindhearted secretaries, this forum, and random binders gathering dust in my office.

NutmeggeRN, BSN · Oct 22, 2019

On 10/20/2019 at 10:11 PM, Blue_Moon said:
I didn't get to follow anyone. I was on my own right from the start. . Our nurses now get someone working with them for a couple of weeks at least and a mentor for a year. Much more support thankfully.

Yup! Left here to figure it out but had an awesome mentor across the street in another school. And in turn, I mentored the newest nurse when she arrived. Lots of check ins, policy review, forms review etc