New school nurse

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Hi! I have been an RN for a little over three years. Most of my time was spent in a pediatric outpatient clinic where I did phone triage. A school nurse position became available over the Summer and I jumped at the opportunity to share the same schedule with my kids. I'm currently on my first day by myself after only a week of "training" and am really just looking for guidance. I am one of two nurses for the school district, and the other nurse seems to want to more of the "behind the scenes" things such as state reporting and checking immunizations while I handle more of the day to day acute things. I guess my question is, what are your best resources or advice that you can provide for a new school nurse who is "faking it" till she "makes it"?

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Specializes in kids.

Welcome! One of us! This is the best threads on the board. Lots of great support here. I would encourage you to join your state association and NASN-the National Association for SChool Nurses. Tones df info and support to be found. Reach out to y other local nurses, sometimes they meet informally. Ask your state association for a mentor, if they can help with he that.

 

Reach out as needed!

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Specializes in 12 years as a school nurse.

Are you sharing an office space daily with the other RN? If so, I'd be bouncing every question off of her until you get your bearings. Honestly, I spent a good part of my first year just figuring it out, asking anyone and everyone in the building for help/reassurance. I'm the only nurse though and did not have the previous nurse present for any training, so I asked the secretary or administration a lot of questions. I looked up a lot of the state regulations and standards of practice for school-related illnesses/injuries/communicable diseases in order to be confident I was making the right decisions based on my assessments. Use your knowledge base from already working in peds and have confidence in your assessment skills. One difference in school nursing vs clinic/hosp is the fact that you are dealing with pretty much the same families and school staff for years at a time, so creating a level of mutual respect and authority with parents and school staff is crucial. You could also reach out to your state school nurse consultant to see if there is a new school nurse mentor program in your state.  After 10 years as a school, I am now a mentor for new school nurses for the past 3 years and I wish I had this when I was starting out!

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
On 11/9/2022 at 8:25 AM, NutmeggeRN said:

Welcome! One of us! This is the best threads on the board. Lots of great support here. I would encourage you to join your state association and NASN-the National Association for SChool Nurses. Tones df info and support to be found. Reach out to y other local nurses, sometimes they meet informally. Ask your state association for a mentor, if they can help with he that.

 

Reach out as needed!

One of us. One of us. haha thank you! Those are all great ideas! I've been perusing this message board and am finding lots of helpful hints! 

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
On 11/9/2022 at 8:45 AM, nursekoll said:

Are you sharing an office space daily with the other RN? If so, I'd be bouncing every question off of her until you get your bearings. Honestly, I spent a good part of my first year just figuring it out, asking anyone and everyone in the building for help/reassurance. 

We are not sharing an office space. She is over at the JR/Sr high and I am in the elementary school. It's been a crash course so far this year, coming off of maternity leave and starting right at the start of cold and flu season. It's been nutso! But I will look into a mentorship program, as well as the association for Indiana! Thank you!

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