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This is the time of year to look for a school nursing job. It's the perfect job for a mom with small children. Although it doesn't pay as much as a hospital job, it's basically a part time job and you can work summer school or summer camps (and bring your kids for free)! You will find your nursing niche in time. Good luck to you!

It is indeed more possible than you think. In CA there are state programs for nurses working in rural and poor areas that contribute to paying off loans. And there are plans in the works if you pay for ten years the balance will be forgiven. If you are concerned, I suggest you get involved and write your lawmakers and professional organizations to influence change in this area. References: OSHPD - Foundation - Bachelor of Science Nursing Loan Repayment Program Who Qualifies for Obama's 10% Student Loan Payment Cap? - Daniel Indiviglio - The Atlantic.

I cannot emphasize this enough. Listen to hearts, this setting is were you'll get some interesting variations. Same goes for lungs. Take BP's and if they are willing practice taking BP's on a leg. What about all those meds? What do they do, what are they for, what are their SE's. When a doc comes in to do their rounds, ask if you can follow them around. Review a patient's file and look at their blood work, do you see the correlation. Even if you can't do this, just by asking shows your interest in wanting to learn everything. Geri is an important sub specialty, so much so, specialty leadership programs are being developed. http://www.nursingsociety.org/LeadershipInstitute/GeriatricAcademy/Pages/GeriatricAcademy.aspx

Jennie: What happens when you are sick, who covers for you? If it's the office staff, then they should cover you while you take your breaks for 30 minutes. What did your predecessor and other nurses in your district or nearby districts do? I try and take my break when teachers are in the lunch room as it can be very helpful. For example, I had one child who showed up with impetigo and I sent him home. In the lunch room it was mentioned by the teacher, and another teacher said she had a child with a suspicious rash in her class. I asked her to send him to me and sure enough, it looked like impetigo as well. The connection turned out to be an off site after school program.

From their website: The Board of Regents of the State of Nevada approved a proposal in December 2010 for the School of Nursing at UNLV to implement differential tuition for nursing students in the professional nursing program beginning in January 2012. All students taking classes from NURS 300 or above will be levied the differential tuition (NURS 140 and 299 will not be included). Differential tuition means that a school charges a rate of tuition above that which the university charges, in this case, the differential will be twice that of UNLV regular tuition. Revenue from differential tuition will support enhancement of key student programs. Students will pay differential tuition only if they are in the professional nursing program at the undergraduate and graduate level. They will not pay differential tuition if they are prenursing students. By Board of Regents mandate, 15 % of the additional tuition revenue will go directly toward financial aid for School of Nursing students. (http://nursing.unlv.edu/)

I agree with Flare and to say, pick your battles. I am also on the teachers contract and should only work 6.5 hours/day. However, 90% of the district employees put in much more time than this. Teachers take work home almost every night and weekends, office staff work 7:30 - 5 or 6 each night. No one slacks in my district. Instead, I flex my time and come in later or take an afternoon off because I have other obligations, and a lot of volunteer work, besides I'm 80% time and I'm trying to make the point that I need to be full time.

For those who do not do MAA/LEA billing, does this mean you have no students on MediCal in your district receiving services?

You're also there in case the trach falls out or gets blocked by food, education and safety. I know because this was my first job in a school district I was in grad school so I had the opportunity to do my homework, which included online lectures. I brought my computer and earphones. I also helped with school nurse reports and researched Ed code issues when they came up. It was a great position for a year, but after that, not so much. As to queasy, I've been told everyone, including nurses, has an issue with one bodily fluid and it sounds like lung gunk is yours. If you truly have a problem, I wouldn't recommend this as the opportunity to get over it. The 4 year old will pick up on that and may read it as you have a problem with him or her. The nurse they hired to replace me when I took on schools had similar issues and my former charge could tell. She made every excuse to not come to school and her attendance decreased by 30%

Depends upon your contract. I'm on the same contract as teachers and am contracted to work 7 hour days but of course I work more than that.

Most of the School Nurse Credential programs require a PHN so if one does have an ADN, (and a BS or BA ) you need to get that before you can do the credential program. Very few provide just the PHN. I had to get mine as part of my MSN.

Kateper- In my area, now is the time to consider School Nursing. Frankly, no one wants this job. Yes, it pays a little poorly, but it's a great, steady job with wonderful benefits. Ambulatory care and ER are the best specialties to have going in. Many districts have only one nurse, which is fine, but a new school nurse would work best with others in the district to show you the ropes. I just recently hired into a school district that has no procedures written down. I spent most of today trying to figure out how they organize hearing and vision screenings and they do it a completely different way than my previous district. If I had no idea what I was doing, I would be very frustrated.

One of my principals decided to include a notice with the PBE waiver that parents sign. It states that If and when we need to exclude a child because of an outbreak, the teacher can chose not to give homework and those days out will be considered unexcused. She claimed it was an Ed Code thing but I can't find it in the California Ed Code. If it is fine but I would like to make the argument that the children are all under 18 and really don't have a choice themselves and we would be punishing them. We all know that parents, for the most part, are making the choice out of convieninces but it looks like discrinimation to me. We are getting down to the wire and I'm getting angry phone calls from a few parents about this. Any thoughts?

There have been a couple of interesting threads, although not personal stories: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/rn-do-you-503582-page5.html https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/could-not-believe-254219-page7.html

Really good idea, ColleenJune. I'm going to look into this myself.

My teachers and principals are very accommodating and would prefer the cild learn to advocate for themselves. If the child's condition is well managed and the parent is in agreement, I'm OK going with a IHCP. I, too, would rather the child learn to advocate for themselves as well. However, I came from a district that believed only a parent could call for a 504 plan even if the child's condition was not well managed and or the teachers were unhelpful.

In response to a Tdap compliance letter I sent home, a parent really became upset and asked if I knew what was in the vaccine. That many contain HCG and would create problems for girls who wanted to become mothers later on. I assured her that it's her right not to have the vaccine but asked her for more info. Below are the sites I found but has anyone else had this come up? http://www.thinktwice.com/birthcon.htm http://www.whale.to/m/sterile.html

mustlovepoodles, I've noticed an increase in little stuff teachers used to take care of, too. I did a little digging and discovered that class ratios have gone up and teachers just aren't dealing with small injuries anymore. It's too hard with a classes of over 30 students.

Can't really go wrong with this website: http://www.foodallergy.org/ and downloadable resources including care plans and ppt http://www.foodallergy.org/section/helpful-information Also NASNs new green book has some great resources. It's now on CD and easily modified for each student : http://www.csno.org/docs/Post%204-7-2011%20Promo%20Green%20Book.pdf Lastly, great reading when it's soooooow http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749%2810%2901566-6/fulltext

I have only encountered one anorexic boy that was in counseling and at the end of last year had made some improvement. In my new district, I understand "Ana" and "Ed" are rampant. I'm very new dealing with super competitive young athletes whose parents condone this behavior. Unfortunately with the internet, it is soo very easy to instantly find reinforcing pro-ana or ed websites. These are personal story blogs that might be helpful: http://prorecoveryana.blogspot.com/2011/08/blog-post.html http://anadeath.webs.com/ http://board.ringsworld.com/post-86008.html I remember an EVP article from awhile ago that stated anorexia can delay the onset of menstruation and if severe enough over time will mess things up permanently.

I'm in Cali, Noreenl but there must be something in upstate for you. I found my special spots by luck though they are getting more and more popular.

Consider it job security

I can say this works for me! Additionally I've found a couple of overnight get-aways that are a 2-3 hour drive away. We try to go every other month. One is a rustic hot springs in the middle of nowhere. So peaceful.

Does anyone still use tempdots?

Thank you for your well thought out response Jolie. I truly appreciate it. Now that I'm in the district instead of looking at it from the outside, there were many, many things that were not done, or not done correctly. Tacit permission was granted for questionable policies that I quickly put a halt to. It's hard to judge quality from the outside when the only communication is "butt out" I do find the certification process to be onerous and costly, coming in around 8k, in comparison to other states, however it has been well worth it in learning Ed Code and more importantly making connections with more knowledgeable nurses. I've worked with an MSN trained 15 year experienced nurse who is great at assessing, but still needed to learn the things taught in the program. Yet so many people think that it's ok to buck the state standards because other states do things differently. I didn't make the law, However, I do think the process is there for a reason. If one disagrees they should work to change the law. But if a nurse does not believe the law, code, or certification is relevant, to the point where they feel they have the right to work without it, then what else will be considered arbitrary? I realize mentors, practice and good skills will make for good school nurses and good assessments and IEPS. Which is why I spent my first two years in a district with other school nurses learning the ropes. I am still learning about what I don't know and expect it will take 3-5 years to get a handle on this job. As to our group's methodology, if there was a clear procedure for reporting and investigating school nurses and holding the district and ourselves accountable then there would not have been this problem. This is why standards exist and are so very important. Many nurses are on their own and their district trusts that they are doing the right thing without knowledge of what school nurses actually do and without oversight. I can say that from what I've experienced so far in the district, and of her personally, it was the correct decision. As to job security, yes, I agree, no one wants to carry the big stick when the rules are being broken. I certainly didn't and yet a new standard was being set. In a state back east, the nurses were taken off the certificated scale and ADN nurses were hired instead. I don't want to go down that path. My old boss did eliminate the my school nurse position at the end of the year and I was offered a less appealing job, which I would have stuck with if no other option presented itself but it did. I had several conversations regarding ethics, and much reflecting on my integrity before I applied. It was the right decision. I'm no shining beacon of light and I'm not perfect, but I do have a great network and mentors. I agree that my knowledge and conduct as the health professional will win the day and I'm hoping the icky stalker behavior will go away. I've already talked to the HR person.

Thanks Jolie, but unless I'm reading the thread wrong, it seems the prevailing flow is that unless a patient is directly in harms way and I see it, it's none of my business. Not sure that applies here. In fact, proper licensing and credentialing is a minimum requirement and if not met leaves everyone at great risk if something goes wrong.