New Grad RN, Will being a school nurse lock me into never moving into acute care?

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I have recently graduated and am interviewing for a school nurse position. I loved the high paced clinicals (ER, OB, ICU) but havn't been able to get an interview for those positions. I am applying for other positions now too. If I get offered the school nurse position, is it career suicide to take it? Will I be able to move into acute care down the road? The position would be a great schedule fit for my family (I have 5 kids and haven't worked outside the home in many years). The pay is really good (about 50% more an hour than the hospital). I have my Bachelors in Education but only my associates in nursing, I plan on doing a RN-BSN bridge, and working a school schedule would make that easier. What are your thoughts? Would this be okay to do for a couple years or should I think long term about where I would like to be career wise?

Thank you for any input!

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.

Ugh, yes! I walked the stage on a Friday and went to work at a pedi ER the following Monday as a GN. During my ER time, because of staffing shortages, I was floated to a med-surg floor for one shift and the NICU for one shift...uh uh...not gonna happen. If floor nursing was the only option, as I've stated before on here, I'd rather work as a semen extractor on a turkey farm or on a Bering Sea crab boat like on Deadliest Catch.

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Specializes in School Nursing.

As a nurse in a high scshool with 14 years experience here, and total of 34 years of Nursing experience, I really don't reccommend school nursing right out of school. You are the only medical professional in the school, and have no back up, or help until EMS gets there if things go bad. I think a good solid base in a hospital seeting lets you hone assessment and critical thinking skills before going solo. You don't have time in emergencies to think, look up, or second guess yourself. You need to base every decision you make on experience, and I just don't think that clinicals in nursing school totally prepares us for the real world. I would think twice about this career move without some experience.

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Ugh, yes! I walked the stage on a Friday and went to work at a pedi ER the following Monday as a GN. During my ER time, because of staffing shortages, I was floated to a med-surg floor for one shift and the NICU for one shift...uh uh...not gonna happen. If floor nursing was the only option, as I've stated before on here, I'd rather work as a semen extractor on a turkey farm or on a Bering Sea crab boat like on Deadliest Catch.

Tell me more about how you heard there was an opening in a position for semen extractor on a turkey farm, please.

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Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
Tell me more about how you heard there was an opening in a position for semen extractor on a turkey farm, please.

The job was featured on one of Mike Rowe's Dirtiest Job shows and they had an opening...sadly, it's probably closed now. I'm sure thousands of people aspire for such a "position."

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Tell me more about how you heard there was an opening in a position for semen extractor on a turkey farm, please.

I feel like this might be a job with a lot of turnover.

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Specializes in CPN.
I should have clarified that this is acutally a part time position for 4 hours a day. The school has one full time nurse and a full time health aid. I would be coming in to make sure there was coverage at all times (lunches and if the full time nurse is away), so I would have someone available to consult most of the time and especially in the beginning while I was new. Working part time days and having the summers off would allow me to get my BSN over the next 2 years which is why I specified that time frame.

I'm sorry if I came across as school nursing not being important or not encountering medically difficult situations, that was not my intent at all. I am close with the nurses in our school district, it was acutally one of them who cautioned me about going into school nursing right after graduating if I wanted to work in the hospital. I was just looking for a broader opinion from others in the field. Thank you for you input.

Working as a school nurse, part time, with another nurse to interact with frequently, while you finish your BSN? I say go for it. It's hard to find a position in acute care without your BSN nowadays. Not impossible, but hard. I agree with the others that you need to hone your skills in a more acute setting, but I don't see why it would be any more difficult to get a job after graduating from your BSN program. I wouldn't necessarily go around touting that you have "2 years" experience when you do start applying for said jobs after your BSN. And I would look specifically for new grad positions that have a residency type program provided a longer orientation rather than jobs that require experience.

Nursing is great in that you can change specialties, especially sub specialties.. It's not easy, and you basically start from the bottom all over again, but it's possible. You just have to work hard and keep learning without thinking you know everything. I'm a school nurse right now. I used to be a nurse for pedi pulm in acute care. I was also a primary care nurse. I'm looking forward to discovering what my next position will be, but for now, I'm super happy as a school nurse!

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Specializes in Cardiology, School Nursing, General.

Hallo, I'm a CMA working as a Medical Aide at a school. I have 1 years of experience in Cardiology, 1 year general and 3 years of peds. I agree with a lot of these comments. I didn't do much learnin' like you real RNs did, but in my state we hire CMAs, LVNs and RNs for any job as long as we have an NP or MD watching us.

I agree with the idea of trying other stuff before getting into SN. I have my 4 years exp in other sections, so when I got into this job, it made me have to do some critical thinking skills than the usual stuff, as well it helped that I worked with children before. I would try other types of nursing because once you come into SN, it will be just children most of the time and some things depending on your students and workload. You won't be doing much IVs or any other nurse type things unless your kids have that. I have only one TD1 in my school and one student with shortgut, so I deal with some nursing things with them, but rest of my students are normal injuries and the medication administration.

I haven't done any blood draws or injections since I got in this job and yes I miss it but I love my job and the skills I require here. It will help me tremendously when I get into LVN program or even RN.

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