New here!

[Snestor17]

Hi all. Thanks for the wealth of information here. I have been stalking this page for a year and have decided I am taking the plunge and becoming a school health RN. I have accepted a job in Maryland, within my county. I start orientation August 5 and school resumes after Labor Day.

A little about myself... I’ve been a nurse for 12 years and I’ve only worked in a level 3 NICU. I’m really nervous about this change due to my limited scope of experience. Hence my stalking the page for advice, scenarios and tools of the trade. I have asked friends who specialize in Respiratory therapy and diabetes education to be a resource to me during this transition and they are behind my 100%. I’ve looked at Maryland’s resource page and begun compiling a list of websites and documents to utilize also. I asked my director what resources are available and she said that I should wait to see if my assigned school has anything (I’m guessing something the previous nurse left behind). I’m considering buying one book/ membership to assist me in beginning this journey and wonder which one you would recommend to newbies. Also do you get funds for supplies (ice packs, band aide, etc.) or does that come out of pocket? What are my must have tools and resources that will help me succeed?

thanks for the help everyone!

[Nicole21191]

I'm new too, so I don't have a lot of knowledge to give, but one book that has made me feel a lot better is School Nursing: A Comprehensive Text by Janice Selekman. It has entire chapters about emergency readiness as well as chapters about how to respond to common complaints. For example, it will give information about stomachaches, the assessment you should do, questions you can ask, and the nursing interventions you can do. I highly recommend it!

[Nurse Des, RN]

Hey there. I started school nursing in January and definitely learned a lot in my few months. What kind of school/age group are you going to be working with? I work in elementary school currently, but will (hopefully) be headed to high school at the beginning of next school. It sounds like you are doing a great job of trying to be prepared! I second your idea of brushing up on diabetes, as well as asthma, and allergic reactions. Depending on your age group, rashes are also very prevalent and you may want to brush up on those as well. I also recommend reviewing school required vaccines. You could ask your supervisor if there is a county specific "handbook" that you could refer to and/or read over. As the above commenter stated, School Nursing: A Comprehensive Text by Janice Selekman is a great resource. I'm not sure if your school will, but it was in the clinic at my school, so you may not have to go out and buy it or anything. I always reach out to my supervisor, other nurses in the district, my handbook, or google when I'm not sure of something.
To answer your question about supplies, I'm not sure how other schools work, but mine orders from a website (schoolhealth) and you just create an order form of things you "think" you may need for the upcoming school year. That is done at the end of the previous school year. My school also does a mini order before Christmas break that will arrive when the kids return to school in January. That's for things you're already running low on from the previous months. For me, there isn't a specific budget I have to stay within. Some things, you may need to buy on your own. In my case, I have a great PTA, and was able to ask them to buy me extra things. For example, I like to have ginger ale (the magic elixir for stomachaches), shoe laces, and socks on hand. If your PTA won't buy it for you, you may elect to buy it yourself. However, I do not enjoy spending my own money for supplies for a job that I'm trying to get paid for, but that's my opinion.

[tining, BSN, RN]

Welcome to the school nurse's virtual station

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

I forget who says this but "One of Us! One of Us!!" Welcome!

[guest464345]

Welcome!

If you handled 12 years in a NICU, you'll certainly manage a school health office. You're going to be fine!

You've thought about the unlikely-but-terrible stuff that can be caused by asthma, diabetes, and allergies. That's good. Just remember that even in some terrible scenario that's unlikely to happen, this is not an ACLS/PALS scenario for you. You're starting or supervising CPR, or grabbing an MDI and O2, or using the EpiPen, or whatever....and calling 911 so that EMS can take over.

The other thing you'll want is your district policies related to student health, and your standing orders (if you have them). In some places the health office is basically an ambulatory clinic, and in others you're not even allowed to give a Tylenol.

Apart from "stuff that might kill someone" and "policy stuff," the rest of what you need to figure out in school nursing is....well, if you've been in the hospital....weird. It requires tact, an appreciation of the absurd, and organizational skills. How am I keeping a straight face while grown people with master's degrees flip out about a tiny drizzling nosebleed? How do I navigate in a setting where everyone else is an educator with very different professional concerns? What should be written about nursing services in a properly done IEP? What do I do with this mountain of handwritten, illegible paperwork? Why has this parent listed loratadine as a medication "for aggression"?

My other advice is, don't get suckered into buying your supplies out of pocket. I did at first, and they were happy to just have supplies materialize at my expense. But when I put my foot down and matter-of-factly presented a very reasonable itemized list of what I needed....magically, funds appeared.

Seriously, you'll figure it out, and people on this board are incredibly helpful. Congratulations on your new job.