Part-time School Nursing?

[SmallStateSchoolNurse, BSN, RN]

Hello!

Is anyone here a part-time school nurse? I am full-time but I am wondering what other schools do when their nurses are only part-time? Basically I leave an hour before the school day is over and don't have a formal plan set in place. The office manager currently takes the reins and calls me if she needs me during that hour. I would love to hear what protocols people have set in place for when there is no nurse in the building so I can try to implement something here. I appreciate any and all input.

 

Thank you!

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

All of the schools in our district have a FT nurse, but there have been times where we have no subs and have had to leave a school without a nurse for (usually) just a couple of hours. In those times, admin calls the families of students with chronic medical needs - diabetics, seizure disorders, daily meds - and lets them know there is no nurse in the building. At that point, they are given the option to keep their student home or come in to provide care for the day. We have a set of guidelines that support staff can follow if there is no nurse in the building. It is mainly Basic first aid, AED use, and epinephrine administration guidelines, with almost all of the guidelines ending in "call the parent" for non-life threatening stuff that might require extra attention or "call 911" for anything more serious. We also keep a list of staff who are first aid/CPR certified and might be called upon to "cover" for minor things. 

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

Also, keep in mind that many schools in this country don't have nurses at all.

[nursekoll, BSN, RN]

Part-Time nurse here?‍♀️ I work 2 days a week at my district's elementary building and 2 days a week in the Jr/Sr High building.  I have Fridays off☺️. Since I'm out of each building more often than I'm in them, I have many other staff members trained to do some of the medical things.  I train all staff in Epi-pen and albuterol neb treatment and the standing emergency orders we have to use those. I do a yearly in-service  for all staff on basic seizure first aid/response and diabetes emergencies. All staff does CPR and first aid as well. Then I also do more specific training for designated seizure response team and diabetes care team. These people are trained in how to administer medications and individual care plans for specific students. School secretaries and some teachers and paras are medication-administration trained every 3 years. The secretaries do most of the medications and first aid, as students are used to coming to the main office anyways, so they either see me if I'm here, or the secretary if I'm not here.  They call the specific care team people as needed for diabetic or seizure issues.  I like that they're not completely dependent on me, although I do sometimes get called from one school to come to the other school ( 10 minute drive) or get called on my day off, but it's not often.  Of course, the secretaries are not able to assess conditions like I do.  They take temps, give out ice or band-aids, and call parents to report issues at school. it works well for us!

[Jedrnurse, BSN, RN]

23 hours ago, nursekoll said:

Part-Time nurse here?‍♀️ I work 2 days a week at my district's elementary building and 2 days a week in the Jr/Sr High building.  I have Fridays off☺️. Since I'm out of each building more often than I'm in them, I have many other staff members trained to do some of the medical things.  I train all staff in Epi-pen and albuterol neb treatment and the standing emergency orders we have to use those. I do a yearly in-service  for all staff on basic seizure first aid/response and diabetes emergencies. All staff does CPR and first aid as well. Then I also do more specific training for designated seizure response team and diabetes care team. These people are trained in how to administer medications and individual care plans for specific students. School secretaries and some teachers and paras are medication-administration trained every 3 years. The secretaries do most of the medications and first aid, as students are used to coming to the main office anyways, so they either see me if I'm here, or the secretary if I'm not here.  They call the specific care team people as needed for diabetic or seizure issues.  I like that they're not completely dependent on me, although I do sometimes get called from one school to come to the other school ( 10 minute drive) or get called on my day off, but it's not often.  Of course, the secretaries are not able to assess conditions like I do.  They take temps, give out ice or band-aids, and call parents to report issues at school. it works well for us!

Out of curiosity, what's the total student enrollment between the two schools?

[nursekoll, BSN, RN]

Right around 300 total. It goes up or down about 10 students within each year. We have preschool through 12th grade in 2 buildings 10 miles apart.

[Incognito-lpn]

Before Covid I worked part time, 5 hrs a day. If anyone needed medical attention the secretary would handle it. She is also an Lpn. Once in a while I would get a phone call asking what to do. I didn’t mind because it was rare that it happened. 
 

[beachynurse, ASN, BSN]

Our division used to hire nurses to job share and let them work out a schedule that would give them equal hours. But two nurses couldn't get along with making a schedule and ruined it for anyone else. Now only full time nurses are hired, and if you want to work "part time" you can work as a substitute and fill in for the full time nurses.