New elementary school nurse!

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Specializes in NCSN.

Hi everyone!

I've been stalking this board, and all of my local school districts, for the past 2 years and tomorrow is going to be my first day as a school nurse! Woo-hoo!

I'm going to a k-5 school which is going to be a big change because I've always cared for an adult and geriatric population. I left acute care early in my career (just wasn't for me) and I've spent a lot of time with working with adults with developmental disabilities in the home setting.

I'm super excited for this change! Any tips on working with the little ones? :-)

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Community Health, School Health.

Congrats on a huge change! I am in my second year as a school nurse, but have been working with the pediatric population for over 20 years. This site has been an amazing resource. Use it for questions about anything and you will get lots of responses! My school is K-1 right now, will be K-2 next year. My advice is set boundaries right away about what you can/cant do. My first year I was so excited and eager to be here that I said "Yes" to everything and got stuck doing all sorts of jobs that were not even remotely related to nursing. Then when I couldn't get my own work done I was stressed. Be friendly with the teachers, admin, whoever you need to be friendly with so that when you need something they are there for you. If you don't already have it, buy the book "School Nursing, A Comprehensive Text" by Selekman. Great resource. Perhaps your school will order it for you. Go onto your State's nursing board website and look up their school health policies and become familiar with them. Join the School Nurse's Association. Ice packs and bandaids fix almost anything. Kids with Stomach Aches will quickly exhaust you :yes: Use your orientation time to get familiar with the computer system, student tracking, screening protocols, etc. Now orientation? No worries, be resourceful and look up your state's policies and come here. I have had so many of my questions answered here! Enjoy and have fun!

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.

Welcome. Your home health experience will help you with one of the hardest adjustments to school nursing, isolation. You are the only medical source in the school, normally. You have no one to bounce things off. This community will be your nurses station, come here for questions, you will usually get a response in a few minutes. The experience of a lot of these nurses here is immense, exploit it. Read all you can and peruse these boards.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

Welcome to the Farm!

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Specializes in kids.

Welcome!

Read the Rules!! We wear pink on Wednesday!!! and be very careful how you use an ellipse... :roflmao:

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Specializes in School nurse.

Welcome! It's now your circus and yes these are your monkeys! Just kidding. I love working with the little ones. I too come from an adult nursing past. Visit here often. Lots of great advice. Good luck!!!

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