Oh please, just let me vent!!!

[mc3]

OK, teachers. I would like to clarify a few things for you.

#1. I cannot cure hiccups. Why are you sending the student to me? Ditto for a cut that happened a week ago at home, a sunburn from a we

ekend at the beach, or numerous other minor complaints. I know you don't want hear whining, but neither do I. THERE'S NOTHING I CAN DO!

#2. I cannot make the children germ-proof, so you won't get sick. Don't work in an elementary school if you're concerned about getting sick. You're in the wrong place. I'm sorry, but it is a hazard of our job!

#3. See #2

#4. I do not sit around on my butt eating bonbons all day. I know you're tired of them. I'm tired too. Everyone is tired and grouchy and school needs to end. All of our jobs are hard. But please don't send them down to me for every-little-bitty-thing. You have 20 kids. I have 60 kids/day. Really.

#5. See #2

#6. No, I can't tell the parents to keep the kids home if they don't have a temperature. If the parent feels the child is fine and they don't have any symptoms, they need to be in school. We get in trouble for that. It's called denying the child their education.

#7. Yes, I know the majority of parents think we are baby-sitters. I cannot change that. I cannot tell parents how to raise their child, or teach them common sense on when to keep them home. Some will never get it, and some don't want to get it. See #2.

#8. I'm thrilled that you're pregnant. But I still can't germ proof the kids - all 900 of them. Kids have germs, and you mostly likely will end up getting sick at some point. See #2 and #6. Just try and wash your hands a lot, and don't let little ones get too close.

#9. Loose teeth hurt. Yes, they do. I cannot pull the tooth our nor make it better. Ice won't help it. I can give TLC, but so can you!

#10. Yes, children can vomit quite easily. Especially after lunch. Sometimes on command to get out of class - really! Please try and trust my judgment, OK? I'm following the school policy; you may not agree with it but I have to abide by it.

#11. I'm not just here to rubber stamp someone you want sent home!

#12. All of the above doesn't apply to the little kids - pre-K and K. If they don't feel good, I automatically call Mom to come pick them up. I'm not heartless. Really..

Thank you for listening! I feel better now...........(sigh)

11 days and counting.............

mc3:nurse:

[PrayeRNurse, ASN, RN]

WOW! I am a new BSN grad and no acute care will hire a new grad in my area. I just accepted a school nurse job and was excited! You all are scaring me! Ok I understand it is the end of the year. Thank you for your prospective! I will post next May to see if i join the "need to vent team" Not saying you should not feel like it, I just still have the new grad save the world mentality!

One question, did school nursing experience help you get into acute care?

[Tina, RN]

WOW! I am a new BSN grad and no acute care will hire a new grad in my area. I just accepted a school nurse job and was excited! You all are scaring me! Ok I understand it is the end of the year. Thank you for your prospective! I will post next May to see if i join the "need to vent team" Not saying you should not feel like it, I just still have the new grad save the world mentality!

One question, did school nursing experience help you get into acute care?

Yay! Congrats on landing the job. Honestly, it is a great job, as far as nursing positions go. I have done several types of nursing, and school nursing is by far my favorite. The stress level is waaaay less than acute care or LTC. The pay is also less, but the schedule is wonderful.

You are right, what you are reading is "end of the school year venting". In the schools, we have "had it"! Teachers, students, nurses, etc... We are all ready for summer vacation!

[CrazierThanYou]

At my hospital, only hospital experience helps with getting a job in acute care.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

I think it is becasue we do not only manage daytime illness/injuries

we manage food needs, clothing needs, bathing needs, psych needs

we manage state mandated screenings and reports

we manage epileptic seizures, diabetic pump failures, anaphalactic reactions

we manage

[Tinker88]

LET ME VENT WITH YOU...

Someone earlier said it's miscommunication within the school. I completely agree. I taught for a few years in the elementary setting. It seems schools nowadays are too focused on standardized tests. Allow me to explain. The state puts pressure on every school system to increase advanced/proficient percentages. The school system then puts that pressure on the principals. The principals put the same pressure on the teachers. It's like a pyramid. What are you left with? Craziness and people running around all year as if their are heads cut off. In my state, teachers are about to start getting paid based on how students perform on tests and evaluations (not years of service or level of education). That puts a lot more pressure on teachers. When you have stressed teachers, they send kids out of the room to "you" because they don't find the time to handle it themselves. They have a schedule and curriculum to follow.

I went into teaching to inspire kids and show them how to use their imaginations to learn about the world around them. I learned quite quickly that the fantasy I had about teaching was baloney. I ended up not having time to do many fun educational crafts and was stuck teaching TCAP skills and training students how to take multiple choice questions! Oh and all the paper work, graded papers, IEP documentations, and a lot of other things that kept me up late at night and over the weekend.

I completely understand why school nurses get upset when teachers send kids to the office for silly things. They have things to take care of and paper work to deal with too. I know at my school we had one nurse. Usually that nurse spends most of her time assisting the SPED department. There she helps students with feeding tubes and much more. I wouldn't blame teachers in general, but I have met some without common sense...it's no denying that some people lack it! LOL. I kept bandaids in my class and if a kid threw up...I CALLED MOM and had the janitor clean it up. Yes it took instruction time from my 20 kids, but stuff happens.

As a teacher, I wasn't given a policy to follow for students seeing the nurse, and I bet a lot of other schools don't have one either. Just saying... it's miscommunication and people not understanding each other. Both teachers and nurses have tough jobs and great responsibility. Bless both professions! Let me share that I have just resigned from my teaching position to work on my BSN at a private university. I begin the program this fall. I admire teachers and nurses. Hopefully I can one day find a way to integrate the two. Maybe you could make suggestions to the principal at your school. I hope everything gets better for you! Thanks for sharing your vent and thanks for your dedication as a school nurse! Bless you! :)

[mc3, ASN, RN]

LET ME VENT WITH YOU...

Someone earlier said it's miscommunication within the school. I completely agree. I taught for a few years in the elementary setting. It seems schools nowadays are too focused on standardized tests. Allow me to explain. The state puts pressure on every school system to increase advanced/proficient percentages. The school system then puts that pressure on the principals. The principals put the same pressure on the teachers. It's like a pyramid. What are you left with? Craziness and people running around all year as if their are heads cut off. In my state, teachers are about to start getting paid based on how students perform on tests and evaluations (not years of service or level of education). That puts a lot more pressure on teachers. When you have stressed teachers, they send kids out of the room to "you" because they don't find the time to handle it themselves. They have a schedule and curriculum to follow.

I went into teaching to inspire kids and show them how to use their imaginations to learn about the world around them. I learned quite quickly that the fantasy I had about teaching was baloney. I ended up not having time to do many fun educational crafts and was stuck teaching TCAP skills and training students how to take multiple choice questions! Oh and all the paper work, graded papers, IEP documentations, and a lot of other things that kept me up late at night and over the weekend.

I completely understand why school nurses get upset when teachers send kids to the office for silly things. They have things to take care of and paper work to deal with too. I know at my school we had one nurse. Usually that nurse spends most of her time assisting the SPED department. There she helps students with feeding tubes and much more. I wouldn't blame teachers in general, but I have met some without common sense...it's no denying that some people lack it! LOL. I kept bandaids in my class and if a kid threw up...I CALLED MOM and had the janitor clean it up. Yes it took instruction time from my 20 kids, but stuff happens.

As a teacher, I wasn't given a policy to follow for students seeing the nurse, and I bet a lot of other schools don't have one either. Just saying... it's miscommunication and people not understanding each other. Both teachers and nurses have tough jobs and great responsibility. Bless both professions! Let me share that I have just resigned from my teaching position to work on my BSN at a private university. I begin the program this fall. I admire teachers and nurses. Hopefully I can one day find a way to integrate the two. Maybe you could make suggestions to the principal at your school. I hope everything gets better for you! Thanks for sharing your vent and thanks for your dedication as a school nurse! Bless you! :)

That's so true about everyone running around like chickens with their heads cut off.....I really do believe that, at least for my school, that we all need to understand each other. Nobody, and I mean nobody, has it easy whatsoever in my school. I see what the teachers are going through, and their expectations, and I'm amazed every day they even want to continue to want to teach. However, I would like the same respect back from the teachers. Sending kids up for hiccups, teeth that hurt because they're loose and a million other silly things wastes my time, and takes away from the kids that really need help.

Again, thank you for letting me vent. It's a relief to know I'm not the only one who feels that way!

mc3

[mc3, ASN, RN]

I think it is becasue we do not only manage daytime illness/injuries

we manage food needs, clothing needs, bathing needs, psych needs

we manage state mandated screenings and reports

we manage epileptic seizures, diabetic pump failures, anaphalactic reactions

we manage

Yes, yes and yes!!!!!

mc3:nurse:

[MotherRN]

One more one more! There is no school board policy prohibiting body odor; it's not against school policy for a child to stink.

I haven't been in school nursing long or nursing in general, for that matter, and I am only a sub- but, I have already had a child brought to me ( an hispanic, English as a second language student) and the teacher humiliated him by telling me to change his clothes and clean him up.

I do think the teachers see the school nurse as a dumping ground- "we" are there to support "them". Now, i agree with this in theory- yes, the nurse is there to support the goal of education and keep the kids healthy and safely in the school. But, we are limited in what we can do, and often really busy, just as they are, so they should use common sense in what they send kids in for.

I subbed in a middle school where a teacher summoned me to his room (which it took me three trys to find). Once I did the man was red-faced and livid. He demanded to know why I had send an hyperactive kid back to his class with a rash on his hand.

Okay, the kids had a small rash of unknown origin. I have confirmed with an outside doctor that if it isn't round, it isn't ring worm. Now, according to policy, even if it were ring worm, in junior high he could stay in the class if he 1) kept his hands to himself or 2) kept it covered (and that was not even a requirement). Even so, I put a bandaid on it. The teacher demanded gloves, then demanded removal of the student all together. And, as I stood outside his door, he demanded I tell him what the rash was, if not ring worm.

I professionally explained we are nurses and we don't diagnose. I also had brought the policy of the state with me for him to read, which he refused. He told me to take the kid to the nurses office for the rest of the day.

There was no way that hyper kids was going to sit in my office, not sick, and pester the #### out of me for the next four hours! The office let him sit in the lobby for the next half hour, then luckily he got to change class to a new instructor...who promptly showed up in the nurses office demanding to know why this kids was now in her room and if he was contagious...

I haven't accepted another assignment at that school since!

[MotherRN]

Don't you all get a week off every few months and the entire summer off? Seems fair compensation for dealing with a few pesky people.

I believe the time off is more like some at Thanksgiving, Christmas and then Easter break, but the school year is still 9+ months. And, that M-F is grueling at times, I'm sure.

I have been weighing the benefits of the steady schedule and time off against my desire to not do the same thing 5 days a week and my personal leg swelling issue with desk work.

But, I like it a few times a week. My hats off to those who do it year round. I may join you in the future!

[MotherRN]

Stuff they teach us in Ed school:

Pass the buck

CYA

RND Syndrome (RN do something!)

Just graduated now I offer 1 stop shopping. Education and nursing in the same classroom!

What's CYA?

[MotherRN]

OMG you all have SAVED me from my misguided dreams of school nursing!!! I can barely tolerate my own whiny lying teenagers, WHY would I think I would be able to tolerate someone else's?!!! Thanks for your VENT!!!

I told my kids just this afternoon when I got home from the elementary school how interesting it is to meet other peoples kids. We all are so different in our beliefs and ways! Some of the kids are really neat and impressive; but some of the kids are so strange! Then again, the nurse is seeing the kids on meds,a nd I'm not talking about the asthma PRN kids! I had this one today, totally noncompliant. They send him to me and insist I inspect his mouth to be sure he actually swallowed the pill. I tried, he kept turning away. Three different times, he "faked" swallowing the pill. Finally, he refused to be checked (I think it was hidden in behind his front lower lip. But, he wanted his usual candy reward. When I said no I practically had to wrestle him away from the cabinet because he was going for it anyway. Crazy! Was thrilled when he came back for a second dose around noon!

These kids don't have the right to refuse, like adults do, do they?

Also, is it a violation to fax a med pick up form to a parent's place of work, if they request it, because they can't come back to sign in person? They signed a handwritten sheet about the student and meds picked up , but I couldn't find the right sheet until after they left. Was this a FERPA violation??

[MotherRN]

WOW! I am a new BSN grad and no acute care will hire a new grad in my area. I just accepted a school nurse job and was excited! You all are scaring me! Ok I understand it is the end of the year. Thank you for your prospective! I will post next May to see if i join the "need to vent team" Not saying you should not feel like it, I just still have the new grad save the world mentality!

One question, did school nursing experience help you get into acute care?

I don't believe you can get into the hospital easily from school nursing. unfortunately there is this "school nurses aren't really nurses" crap that goes around. But you will see that you do the whole nursing judgement and run your own show. It uses lots of higher level management skills as well. Plus, there are times for epi pens and diastat, diabetes management and also staff (adult) issues.

I was just hired into a LTC/ Post Acute Care facility to learn my nursing procedures, pay my dues. They know I am a newer nurse.

You could pick up some part time.PRN work in a LTC/rehab/post acute care probably easily with a BSN. It's tough work, no precepting really. But, if you survive, that may be enough of a start to get you into acute care eventually.

I plan to work PRN at my post acute care and still sub days at the schools. Eventually, if my issues resolve, I may take a full time school nurse job when one opens. The field restored my faith in nurisng. It was like a breath of fresh air compared to my first nursing job in LTC last year. And, I find the nursing team in the district is not at all like the lateral violence between nurses in facilities at times.