KH_RN6

Hi! I feel like I'm helpless around here lol. I posted about HHV equipment.. because I was wanting new equipment. Turns out I need a new audiometer because mine stopped working mid screen yesterday. I am Pre-K Only. Ages 3-5 year olds. Some are SPED kiddos. I need an audiometer that kiddos can follow the right prompts. The one I currently have plays a tape that says "show me the fire truck, show me the hotdog, etc" ..I'm not sure if some of these kids would be able to just raise their hand when they hear the beep. Soooo does anyone have any recommendations on an audiometer?? I really want the Maico Pilot Test Audiometer (states specifically that it's ideal for kiddos 2- up), but my student services people that control the budget want me to pick a second option. I just wanted to see if anyone had a good recommendation!! Thanks!!

Hi All! I am in Missouri. I work at my districts early childhood center. My understanding is that early childhood/Pre-K is considered "childcare" not necessarily school? I could be wrong. Anyway, I have 3 kiddos going off to Kindergarten next school year. These 3 kiddos all have "parental exemption" cards from the health department to forgo immunizations. What happens when they go off to the elementary schools? These parents have to try to get a "medical" exemption or "religious" , OR do they just have to get in-progress cards and start getting the shots? How does that work? Also, since exemptions are being brought up! I had a teacher come to me, she has a student starting, mom started the vaccinations, or maybe completed ( no one knows yet, she hasn't enrolled in school or provided any paperwork yet) but now has decided she's done vaccinating her child. SO I told the teacher, either way, she needs to provide an exemption card? correct? UNLESS the child has completed all the series, which I think is unlikely. So even if she is "current" or "Up to date" per her age on shots, she'll still need to provide the exemption card. Does that make sense?!

Yeah all my kiddos are 3-5 years old.. the audiometer i have is hard to do with the SPED kiddos.. there's just gotta be a better way!

new school nurse this school year (started Aug '19). I have a BSN. I was started on the salary scale that matched my years total as a nurse. ( 6 years experience = step 6 salary) .. move up each year to a new step.

Hi All, Anybody know of any grants available to obtain new hearing and vision equipment?? I am in Missouri if that helps. I've been in contact with our parents as teachers, and they are hoping for new equipment too, because they haven't been doing any screens on the kids they see, which she said is not best practice. Before me, they had 2 nurses, 1 who worked with PAT and did all the screenings (pre-school, PAT, and diagnostic screens) while the other ran the office. I am only 1 person, so I screened the preschoolers that are currently enrolled, and a few diagnostics (if they ask me to and if the families show up). I'm just catching up on new kids that started after i finished the first round of screens. We are trying to get a spot vision screener and a new audiometer ( the one I have is literally ancient) .. my director/principal asked if I could find a grant to help fund this new equipment and the coordinator had mentioned potentially writing our own grant. I do not have experience with this so I have no idea where to start!!

It's been good. All this information transpired end of the last week, this kiddo only comes Tues and Thurs. He came back to school Thursday and looked great, we just had kept a watchful eye. The teacher didn't see anything alerting that day. I had given the bus drivers a bus card with information on the kiddo and what to do in the event of a seizure. They are just having the bus driver aid sit near him. They're prepared to stop the bus and call 911.

another question, he is a bus rider. We make bus cards for kiddos that have medical needs. I will inform them of what to look out for and what to do. Won't be able to send the diastat home on the bus. So I will just let the bus driver and aid know what to look out for, if he has seizure and stops breathing to stop the bus and call 911? Do I or should I provide a facemask and tell them how to rescue breathe or just tell them to stop and wait for 911. ??

ok! that's what I need to know! I figured I would give breaths but I didn't know if it would even be possible if they are seizing. His seizures though don't sound like their the full tonic clonic, so rescue breaths may be possible. I do have some facemask/barriers that each teacher has in their emergency back pack. so I'll give this teacher an extra one. Thank you

Hello! I'm a preschool RN (kids ages 3-5) I have a 3 year old, that has history of stroke, that is now having some new seizures. He had one Tuesday and stopped breathing for 3 minutes (at home- this was after he got off the bus). I spoke with parents today when they dropped him off, they brought the emergency diastat for me to have at school. Now here is my very (im sure :)) stupid question! Because I am from the hospital setting and 90% of my ped population that had hx of seizures were trached! If they stopped breathing we would bag them. SOOO if this kiddo were to have a seizure at school, and mom said he will stop breathing, after 3 minutes to go ahead and give diastat, but do you do mouth to mouth while their seizing? OR do you wait for them to come to? I'm not used to being the sole medical professional making all the decisions and I think im just over thinking and nervous. ?

I have a stupid question. I'm familiar with rectal Diastat. However, I've never given it. Do you use lubricant before administering?

I don't think Missouri requires CE hours? But I also don't know much about that. No bulletin board, I just decorated my door as a mummy for halloween last Friday ( we only have 2 classes on Fridays so didn't have much to do ) I'm going to check about a newsletter! that's a good idea. Any good or fun ideas to add into it!?

I feel like I'm missing something. I just finished all my hearing and vision screens for my preschoolers. I have 224 kiddos to care for. I see 1 tube feeder, and I see one kiddo for daily med. Everyone else is just seen as needed. I was thrown into this job with minimal training. I didn't know what else to do my first week before kiddos started, so I just made all my files. Inputted all my immunizations. Files are done. Immunizations are done. Meds are sorted. Screens are done. What do I do now?! just relax!?

I am in MO and I didn't take a pay cut from the hospital I was at. The pay scale in my district is great, i'll be making more a year for school year 20/21 than I would have if I stayed full time at the hospital i was at for 5 more years!. Granted I'm sure I could make MORE if I moved to another hospital, but to have a better quality of life and work/life balance definitely outweighs pay at this point in my life. The good pay in my district is just an added bonus!

Hello! I am new to school nursing (this is my first year). I keep seeing things on here about becoming certified school nurse. Does anyone know if this is a requirement for MO. A friend from my previous employer left at the same time to become a school RN also, but in IL. She said she has to get certified and then will get a raise. I haven't heard anything about this for Missouri. Feel like I'm missing something ?

Very slim! I started in August as a new school nurse. My school was banking on their at the time Part time nurse to train me but she quit a few weeks before school started. Soooo I got minimal. They threw me in the office and said " we don't really know what the nurses did before you, but here you go!" I'm a quick learner, and luckily school nursing seems to be a "make it your own" type of deal. Our lead RN came in and showed me some of the charting stuff. By the time she actually got over here though I had pretty much figured it out. I'm going to suggest at our next nurses meeting is to have some sort of "day" where they can go over the very basics in one day. I was soooo overwhelmed my first few days (before kids even showed up) that I caught myself crying in my office wondering if I made a mistake changing jobs. ? BUT it got better and now I can't see myself going back to the hospital. I stayed PRN at my previous job but really am having a hard time picking up shifts. lol