New grad nurse—school board nurse opportunity

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Specializes in New grad.

Hello fellow nurses! I’m a new grad and a newly licensed nurse. I’m about to start working at Advent Healths nurse residency program. I’m trying to keep options open and do have an interview for Orlando health and their nurse residency as well. However there was an opportunity for me to interview (and highly possible to be offered to me) for a school board RN nurse position. It was described to me as more of a case management/leadership, being in charge of the care of children in 3 elementary schools in my county. I would not be working within the school buildings, but instead would be providing staff education on disease processes, infection control and would be the contact for the 3 schools when their health care workers/LPNS need support in caring for child (broken bones, exacerbation of chronic illnesses and so forth, stuff that require an RN’s assessment). It’s a Monday thru Friday, paid time off during when my kids would be on break from school and I’ll be honest, it sounds great. I really don’t mind the lack of hands on care. However my RN sister made a good point—she said taking this job as a new grad would reduce my marketability in the future, which is a legit concern. The salary isn’t great either. I guess I’ve really enjoyed being with my kids during these covid times and taking on a leadership position and being able to see them everyday sounds nice. What are your thoughts?? Thank you for reading ☺️

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10 minutes ago, Anabelle Burgos said:

I would not be working within the school buildings, but instead would be providing staff education on disease processes, infection control and would be the contact for the 3 schools when their health care workers/LPNS need support in caring for child (broken bones, exacerbation of chronic illnesses and so forth, stuff that require an RN’s assessment).

What experience do you bring to the table that will allow you to expertly and independently support the staff in situations such as you describe?

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Main concern would be nothing that you have mentioned but rather the idea that you would be in over your head independently advising others about nursing care as a brand new nurse. Basic nursing education has purposely chosen to rely heavily upon the provision of continued guided exposure and education in the workplace as some means of filling in knowledge gaps.

Honestly I'm not even sure how people are searching for jobs without even mentioning any concern about whether they can actually do the job in question. This isn't all about personal preferences.

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Specializes in New grad.
1 hour ago, Wuzzie said:

What experience do you bring to the table that will allow you to expertly and independently support the staff in situations such as you describe?

That’s a great question, and yes it’s an obvious answer that my nursing experience is limited. Mind you, I was completely honest in my resume and the questionnaire that was prompted during the application. I really didn’t think I wouldn’t get a response because surely, a nurse with more acute care experience would be considered. But I did receive an interview date and maybe it is for a number of reasons—my bachelors in health administration, my experience working in healthcare as a tech for 2 and healthcare administration for 4 years, my experience working with children for 2 years, but I strongly doubt it’s for those reasons as none relate to acute nursing care, and I think it’s most likely because that the seasoned nurses expect and deserve a higher salary than what the school board is offering for this position. It also sounds like it’s an immediate need. The employer mentioned they would provide on the job training and I’d be guided by the lead nurse. 
 

I understand your concern, I think the school board should be pickier too, LOL. But do you have any thoughts on how taking this job would affect marketability? 

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4 minutes ago, Anabelle Burgos said:

But do you have any thoughts on how taking this job would affect marketability? 

Yes, I do not think it would be prudent for you to take a job for which you do not have the experience for 2 reasons. First, there is a very good chance that it could go sideways when your lack of experience becomes an issue especially if there is an unfortunate outcome. This could affect your license.  Second, without any hospital experience and not being a candidate for a residency the likelihood of you obtaining an acute care job is as close to nil as you can probably get.  

Finally, and I know you did not ask for my opinion in this area but, you have children, would you want a highly inexperienced nurse to be in charge if they had a medical emergency? 

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1 hour ago, Anabelle Burgos said:

The employer mentioned they would provide on the job training and I’d be guided by the lead nurse. 

Not reassuring at all. This could mean tossing a huge notebook of policies at you and telling you to read them while having you fend for yourself because the "lead nurse" isn't "available".

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Specializes in ICU, ER, Home Health, Corrections, School Nurse.

How critical is it that you remain marketable?  A lot of nurses are dying to get away from the bedside, and there is no reason that you can't be a school nurse for the rest of your career.  You can still transition into things like community health nursing, etc.  I do believe that previous posters do have a good point about no experience.  It's one thing to learn on the job, it's quite another to be giving advice remotely, with no experience. And  the people you supervise will resent being advised by someone with no experience, especially if they have years of experience.  

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Allnurses School Nursing  forum members recommend 2-5 years hospital nursing experience prior to accepting school nurse position.   It is a niche specialty with own rules and regs  which vary by federal and state education department regs along with each school district policies.

Please spend some time in that forum before you make a decision. Agree, without any hospital/ LTAC, SNF experience you are limiting future career options.

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Specializes in NICU/Mother-Baby/Peds/Mgmt.

Why don't you take this question to the School Nursing page on FB?  They can give you some advice. They will ask if you're already a school nurse, just explain why you want to join.  You can also read posts about the joys and challenges of being a school nurse, not exactly the job you're looking at but you'll get an idea.  There's a lot more to it than most people realize.  There's also a SN link on this page where you might ask this also.

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Specializes in kids.

There are nurses who go directly into school nursing, and do it well. But I think they are few and far between. It sounds like this job would have you  overseeing other experienced nurses, which can be a great learning process for you, but I'm not sure it is fair to them. They will be turning to you for practice and policy questions and concerns. Having been a school nurse for 27 years now (and an RN for almost 38) I feel that I have the understanding of this job but I am a firm believer in we don't know what we don't know.

I would not recommend this role, and think you should have a few years at least as a nurse, preferably a school nurse, before you  take a leadership role.

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Specializes in ICU/community health/school nursing.
21 hours ago, Ann1e86 said:

However my RN sister made a good point—she said taking this job as a new grad would reduce my marketability in the future, which is a legit concern. The salary isn’t great either. I guess I’ve really enjoyed being with my kids during these covid times and taking on a leadership position and being able to see them everyday sounds nice. What are your thoughts?? Thank you for reading ☺️

Congratulations!

Your sister is 100% right, as is Nutmegge. You will restrict your ability later for a job that looks great now - and that's not even discussing what it is you don't know about nursing, which we usually discover in the first 18 months to 2 years of nursing.

I briefly flirted with the ICU, had a terrible experience because I am not an acute care nurse, and left for ambulatory care. No problem - but now as I look toward nursing management, many of those positions want a year or two of acute care (even the ambulatory care positions!) Don't shortcut your future self . Take the residency. Learn what you don't know.

School nurses are doing a lot of epidemiology right now, and not a lot of actual nursing assessment. 

Best of luck to you right now!!

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Specializes in School nursing.
39 minutes ago, NutmeggeRN said:

There are nurses who go directly into school nursing, and do it well. But I think they are few and far between. It sounds like this job would have you  overseeing other experienced nurses, which can be a great learning process for you, but I'm not sure it is fair to them. They will be turning to you for practice and policy questions and concerns. Having been a school nurse for 27 years now (and an RN for almost 38) I feel that I have the understanding of this job but I am a firm believer in we don't know what we don't know.

I would not recommend this role, and think you should have a few years at least as a nurse, preferably a school nurse, before you  take a leadership role.

I'm one of those very rare folks that went into school nursing as a new grad. But in the time of COVID I actually would NOT recommend it. There is a TON of additional things that come with that and very good assessment skills are part of it. It is a challenge right now for even the most experienced of us.

When I started, I landed a role where I got to work directly with another school nurse and it felt like a preceptorship that I am so grateful for. But it isn't what usually happens in the school nursing world. Usually you are thrown in with very little orientation.  Also, I knew the pay was low but I had a passion for primary care and preventive medicine and had also worked in education extensively prior to nursing (nursing was a career change for me from higher education and now I work with MS and HS students) - where are your nursing passions/dream roles?

Additionally, how do you feel supervising other health support staff? They will be turning to you to have all the knowledge and that can feel overwhelming for any new grad to have that extra responsibility. I supervise an LPN and management is a lot more work than one thinks. 

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