Henaynei

I share much of your concerns - I have been a nurse for 20 years - 18 years ago I was paralyzed from a work related back injury and told I'd never walk again by 3 medical specialists. G-d and my chiropractor and the faith of my wonderful husband had other ideas and within the year I was back at work - but taking 1200 - 1800 mg ibuprofen TID to allow my back to deal with the bending and occasional lifting that working MedSurg and ICU required. Then after working Hospice for almost 2 years we found cancer in my ® lung which was happily completely removed but not before it was found that 8 years of massive ibuprofen was destroying my liver. Not able to use NSAIDs to undo the inflammatory response that "normal" nursing caused in my back, and thus having a 20# lifting restriction, and unable to tolerate bending enough to even do a cath, I've had to find other ways to nurse. I tried Admin a couple of times but am not smashing at it :) Then about 6 years ago I was in a head-on auto collision which damaged my neck and upper back which I had used to offset some of the weakness of my lower back. Now even that is not possible. I work hard to prevent the pain and spasms that easily accost me, but this requires that I limit the kind of activity and nursing that I do rather drastically. I've done in-home equipment installations and education for insurance programs through a nursing agency, insurance in-home assessments and post event need assessments and am currently doing school nursing full time. My income has significantly decreased over the years as my ability to do more hands on nursing has diminished. My next challenge is that I am trying to purchase a house in North Carolina and will have to look for work in the more rural areas. I hope I can find something to support me that my back will allow me to do. I, too, am open to suggestions and the input from the experience of others. b'Shalom Henaynei

school nurse here - in my county all nurses b(RN, LPN, BSN) have base salary of just over $9.00 - with differential and incentives for previous experience (up to 5 documented years) and supplemental education - we are not a blip on the union's radar because there are only 20 of us and we're not considered a group large enough to negotiate for.... even the teacher aides base is better than ours :shrug: most do this because we love it and/or because we have limitations that prevent doing more physically demanding nursing.... when I worked ICU/CCU - I worked 7p-7a - and made around $30-40 - but that was through an agency and there was no insurance, vacation, benefits or security.... :)

1) I'd check with your nursing supervisor as to what the policy for your district - including what level of toilet training does the district expect attendees to have achieved? 2) In some districts the instructional aides and teachers have engineered a contract provision that if they change students soiled clothes they get paid more - but see if the teacher is able to send her aide (if she has one) to the clinic and cheerfully provide gloves and support for them 3) I've found that the school administration and staff are more than willing to help work out a solution if they are truly informed of the issues - perhaps a meeting or a presentation at the next staff meeting and explain the issues you mentioned above :) 4) For students that became "frequent flyers" I sometimes resorted to calling the parent each time - as toilet training is ultimately their responsibility (with understanding, of course, for the student that is developmentally or otherwise delayed)

in the county in FL where I work most of the nurses are LPNs :)