Interview

I also went into school nursing coming from adult med/surg, and to prepare for my interviews, I thought about how my hospital experience would translate well into school nursing. For example, I worked on a high acuity floor with RRTs and codes often enough = experience handling emergent situations in calm, assertive manner; a lot of communication required within interdisciplinary team as well as patients & families = will be able to communicate well with students, parents, as well as staff; extensive patient education in hospital = well prepared to take on educational role of school nurse, which is a huge component of the job.

Do you know who you'll be interviewing with? I interviewed with principals so naturally there weren't a ton of health questions. Also, it seems like different schools look for different things, based on need. My school doesn't really have many medically fragile kids so it seemed like the principal was looking more for someone who will fit into the culture; whereas another school I interviewed at wanted someone with more pediatric experience.

I imagine they often ask about communication skills, conflict resolution, being a team player, etc. since you'll be working with such a wide range of people.

Hope that was helpful. Good luck! I hope you'll love it as much as I do. :)

I would be able to answer questions about Asthma in children, Diabetics (carb/insulin ratios, pumps), food allergies (s/s), epi pens, FERPA/HIPPA, how you would handle situations on your own (most schools only have one nurse without medical backup....except 911 in emergency).

Good luck!

Be prepared for a group interview!

One question I specifically remember was " if you had a student who frequently came to the nurses office, how would you handle getting them to stay in class?" My questions were mostly scenario based, oh, 1 more was, tell us something about yourself that we didn't read on your resume. Good luck :)

I was asked how I would handle frequent flyers, how I would handle staff that had accidents but refused to get evaluated by their physician, how I would build trust between myself and the parents and students and how I see my role as the School Nurse. My school wanted to see that I could think on my feet, deal with difficult people, go out and get the education I might need as needed and work well both within the school community as well as with the families. Pulling from both my own experience as a mom as well as my Nursing education/experience is what made me the right fit for the job here. Good luck! Let us know how it turns out.

Thanks everyone for your replies! I really want to do well on this interview and all of you have given me some great ideas of areas to review. I am so excited about the interview and the possibility of becoming a school nurse.

when is your interview?

April 8th

Please let us all know how this adventure unfolds!

Good luck! I would also check out information on the NASN website and the Nurse's Association for your State! You can also Google School Nurse Manuel or Policies/Procedures to get some more info and save the links because they will be a great reference when you become a School Nurse! :)