It's like the "Just a Nurse" poster--if you've seen it.
You're just a school nurse. Just the only medical professional in the building. Just the person running to every emergency and making snap decisions on your own. Just the one responsible for educating all staff members (with little to no medical background) on medical conditions, asthma, allergies, epilepsy, etc. Just the person who needs to balance being a safe place for students with being the one who teaches them how to "tough it out." Just the person who is questioned by people who have no knowledge of what you do in the school, what your background is, and how deeply every decision you make is rooted in evidence-based science (which you're constantly educating yourself on). Maybe you have just a BSN or just an MSN or a CSN, or maybe you have an ADN, and have had to be kicked in the butt by the learning curve that is caring for hundreds of pediatric patients at once. You are just the one triaging, treating, creating plans of care, implementing changes, and evaluating that care--usually of multiple students in the same moment. You are just the one who spends hours on the phone with DCFS trying to ensure your students are safe. You are just the person who sometimes spends breaks and summers worrying about a specific student who has a health condition or mental health condition or an unstable home environment. You're just the person advocating for your students to have access to healthy food (or food at all), proper medical care, safe staffing of nurses at your school, and a safe home. You are just the one giving up your lunch break every day to stay with a child who is sick or injured or deal with emergency situations. I guess that's all you are right--just a school nurse
