Most creative ideas you've had as a SN?

3 hours ago, nurselife13 said:

Just curious, what are some ideas that you consider "outside of the box" or creative that you have implemented in your office/school as the School Nurse? I'll go first (I am an elementary school nurse - kg through 4th)

1. I created a "look who lost a tooth" wall outside my office. When students loose a tooth at school, I write their name on little teeth I printed online and staple them on the wall. The kids LOVE this!

2. I hang pictures of the kids everywhere in my office. I think this is a staple for the school nurse because it makes it comfortable and "home-y" for the kids. They're like "hey that's me!" or "hey that's so-and-so" - its cute ? I try to make my office as personable to my students as I can (I have 550 students in my school).

3. I printed "punch card's" out for my students that have anxiety related to coming to school and are absent a lot. I have a lot of students 2nd graders that experience this. I think its because 2nd grade is when teachers are no longer playing around, and "the real work" begins. I have a little girl that comes to my office every single morning crying and is absent a lot of the times. She gets 2 punches a day. 1 punch for being present at school and another punch for positive coping mechanisms in the classroom. When all punches are filled, there is a reward (pizza, ice cream, etc.). I find that this type of positive reinforcement works wonders.

Nurselife13, how do you get the photographs, you take them with your phone? And how do you print them? I love this idea!

Yes I take them on my phone and just get them printed!

I was thinking the punch cards were like the rewards cards for frequent visits and after 10, your next one is free ? If I had punch cards for frequency of certain students, they would be filled in a couple days, LOL.

LOVE the tooth wall idea, so cute!

When I took over this job, I inherited a LOT of stuff. One was a skeleton, about the size of a 4 year old, that was used as a Halloween decoration. The second year I put him out at Halloween, my daughter suggested we dress him up, so I put a costume on him. The kids loved it. Then as I was putting him away, I thought, this is a health office, nothing wrong with having a skeleton out year round?? So I got him some regular clothes and left him out. I put Christmas jammies on him in December. Then he wore shorts and a tank top once spring got here. The kids named him Mr. Bones and they always have suggestions for what to dress him up as. Right now he is sporting a cute little jean jacket until its nice enough to break out his shorts!

If I have a kiddo waiting to be picked up, i print out coloring pages for them or ask them to draw me something and then when the parents arrive I ask if they'd like to take it home or if they want me to display it on the cork board next to the cot; They almost always want me to keep it and my board is filled! I make sure they put their first name and last initial on it and I intend to keep a file for each school year with all the momentos to make a scrap book when I retire (in 35 years lol).

That book is going to be FAT.

I love all of these ideas! Especially the tooth wall because it is a badge of honor (especially for my kinders) to get that tooth necklace. Their name on a tooth wall would just be a cherry on top!

Side note: I wish my desk was as clean as yours appears to be in your pic!!

Y'all are SO kind. I mean it.

2 hours ago, MHDNURSE said:

was thinking the punch cards were like the rewards cards for frequent visits and after 10, your next one is free ? If I had punch cards for frequency of certain students, they would be filled

LOL! Heck no! Hahaha

2 hours ago, k1p1ssk said:

If I have a kiddo waiting to be picked up, i print out coloring pages for them or ask them to draw me something and then when the parents arrive I ask if they'd like to take it home or if they want me to display it on the cork board next to the cot; They almost always want me to keep it and my board is filled! I make sure they put their first name and last initial on it and I intend to keep a file for each school year with all the momentos to make a scrap book when I retire (in 35 years lol). 

That book is going to be FAT.

I do this too! I keep crayons and coloring pages by my cots and have a wall filled up with pictures ?

2 hours ago, Eleven011 said:

When I took over this job, I inherited a LOT of stuff. One was a skeleton, about the size of a 4 year old, that was used as a Halloween decoration. The second year I put him out at Halloween, my daughter suggested we dress him up, so I put a costume on him. The kids loved it. Then as I was putting him away, I thought, this is a health office, nothing wrong with having a skeleton out year round?? So I got him some regular clothes and left him out. I put Christmas jammies on him in December. Then he wore shorts and a tank top once spring got here. The kids named him Mr. Bones and they always have suggestions for what to dress him up as. Right now he is sporting a cute little jean jacket until its nice enough to break out his shorts! 

LOVE THAT! I need to get a Mr. Bones!!!

Colouring books and such for kids waiting to go home, little treasure chests for teeth, I hang up ALL of their artwork, little erasers for birthdays. I also have some plastic dinosaurs that I dress up for holidays, fuzzy blankets and stuffed animals for when they need a cuddle, a sweet jam called "the tiny hiney song" for a kid who needs diapering...aaaaaaand, my secret weapon, MY HUSBAND! He is a groundsman for our district and is often in my building. I like to think the teeny tinies like me, but I'm chopped liver when he's around! They often ask for "Mr. Nurse Lynn". Dude is (I verified the stats) bigger than Lou Ferrigno (and louder) and sometimes a stressed out kiddo just needs to talk about a video game for a sec, or to be tucked in with the stuffies (that he provided) and then they hold his giant pinky finger in their itty bitty hands and he walks them back to class.