Interested in School Nursing. Thoughts? (Long)

mycsm · Apr 1, 2011

1.)what do you love about sn? i love the interaction with the kids, i have 6th 7th 8th. they keep me on my toes and laugh all day

2.)what do you hate? the drama and the amount of meds these kids take too much prozac/zoloft . (i think the parents need it more than the kid)

3.)is subbing a good way to "break in" i "broke in" by subbing and just biding my time. i had the luxury of not having to work fulltime so i can be "on call" for subbing in the 6 schools

4.)with a sub job will there be any "orientation" to the different schools in the district? i asked to go to each school to learn the lay out of the nurses office. i didnt get paid (which stunk) but it showed how much i wanted in

5.)how did you know sn was for you/how soon did you know? i knew the day i started subbing. i also knew which grade level i wanted. the beauty of subbing is that you get to go to all the school levels

good luck

Heidi the nurse, BSN, RN · Apr 1, 2011

Not sure you would get eaten alive - perhaps fall for a few stories, but for the most part the kids appreciate what we do.

Find out what the substitute job entails. For me, I have 3 elementary schools and a pre-school. Other districts have an RN in each school. I am assuming those nurses run the health room - I don't. My job consists of things like Sped Evals, writing emergency care plans and making sure plans, orders, and medications are in place for these students, doing hearing and vision screenings and following up when needed for kids who fail my screening. I don't directly have much to do with immunization compliance or the daily goings on in the health room, but do monitor with both and help out with compliance with immunization and trends in the health room or emergencies.

Personally, I would find it much easier to be "thrown in" to a job where I was the nurse for the building every day than to be a substitute for my job. First aid is first aid, but all the policies and politics that I have to deal with, and the "this is the way the district does it" gets hairy at times. Orientation differs, but I still have to call the lead nurse in our district a couple times a month after working here for 6 years, so all the orientation in the world isn't going to answer every question you will come up with.

I think the thing that I dislike the most about school nursing is how things change, often back to the way it was before, which was deemed to be wrong. For instance, when I started 6 years ago we would get orders for severe allergic kids for benadryl, and give epi-pen if symptoms worsen. Several years ago it was determined by the State that this involves nursing judgment. So it was changed to "if a person is stung by a bee" or "if ingestion of peanut products" there was no question - they got the epi-pen. Now, we are starting to write care plans that say "if a mild reaction - give oral antihistamine" but "if severe, give epi=pen if not already given". And no doubt the orders will follow :)

LoveinlimeRN · Apr 1, 2011

Donacee,

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated. I have found out that there are 8 schools in this district( 1 HS, 2MS, 5 elementary) and I would be subbing for any of them, I will definietly do what you did and ask to go in to each school (paid or unpaid) to see how things are done.

Heidi,

Thank you also for your response. Sounds like your job is a busy one!! I think I would be more interested in a job where I am the nurse for the same school every day. I could definitely see myself falling for a few "stories" the first few times. But I guess I will develop my school nurse nose for "baloney" But I will take what I can get and hopefully something will open up. Thanks again for the insight.

luvapug · Apr 7, 2011

1.)What do you love about SN? the schedule!! Can't beat summers off, week long holidays off, snow days off, etc. I also love working with kids.

2.)What do you hate? It can get boring and not feel challenging, being the only medical professional in a sea of teachers who just don't really understand the importance of what you do, the "frequent flyers"-kids who just like to see the nurse and will complain about anything when there's nothing really wrong.

3.)Is subbing a good way to "break in". It's a perfect way. You can see if it's a good fit for you and if it is you will be one of the first in line to get hired. It's not quite the same as working permantely at a school but will give you a good idea.

4.)With a sub job will there be any "orientation" to the different schools in the district? Depends on the school system. We had a half day classroom instruction notifiying us of all the policies, procedures, etc and the had to shadow a nurse at two different schools. We have several schools in our disctrict so I couldn't check out every single school but since you don't have many I think it's a great idea so at least you'll know where to go, where the keys and substitute instructions are, etc so you won't be so nervous the first day of a new school.

5.)How did you know SN was for you/How soon did you know? I started out full-time then took several years off to raise babies and been back part-time for a few years and decided I'm ready for a change so I've found another position. I really wish I would've tried subbing first but a full-time postion opened up and I thought I would love it so I took it and never really felt like it was my calling but kept with it due to the schedule and thinking if I just give it more time...,whereas, if I had tried subbing first I probably would not have kept with it as long. It's a great job but not as perfect as people think-just read the boards. Good luck and try it because it may be your calling and if not you won't always wonder "what if! ".

LoveinlimeRN · Apr 8, 2011

luvapug,

thank you so much for taking the time to reply. i appreciate all of your insight. i am definitely going to give it a try and see if they give me an interview, another question? how soon would you suggest getting my application in being as summer is coming up. i wouldn't want it to get lost in the "end of the schoolyear" shuffle...:w00t:

luvapug · Apr 9, 2011

I would call and ask whoever is in charge of the nurses. In our district, our supervisor would have certain times of the year she would give the orientation class. It wouldn't hurt to go ahead and get all your paperwork in now though because most schools are already looking ahead to next fall so it wouldn't get lost. There's also a chance you might be able to go ahead and sub this spring but I would definately call and talk to someone and go with their recommendation. If your school district is like most they'll be happy to hear from you because there always seems to be a shortage of nurse subs!

*nydctx*RN11 · Apr 12, 2011

1.)what do you love about sn? weekends & summers!!

2.)what do you hate? it gets a little boring

3.)is subbing a good way to "break in" didnt have the opportunity to do so-- but i might not have taken the job if i knew!!

4.)with a sub job will there be any "orientation" to the different schools in the district? not sure our district hires "sub" nurses.

5.)how did you know sn was for you/how soon did you know? i had been in the or for a long time- relocated to tx and took a major paycut... i refused to bust my tail with that much experience and be paid less than i did as a new grad. i found an opening and applied bc all things considered - i needed to be home for my children. its nice- its easy- but it gets old really fast, and im in a really bad school where its not just lice and bloody noses.