Alex'sDad

I won't tolerate a screaming doc. PERIOD! I will walk away, but I won't drop it. I will request an apology in writing and/or discipline for the offensive "professional" if he/she is very out of line or vulgar. I have had a doc before a board at a local hospital because he screamed at me for a med error that was done by another nurse. I had just clocked in and was on my way to get report when he stepped into the hall and proceed to make an A*& off himself by screaming at me. I went to the VP of Nursing and to the CEO of the hospital and demanded a written apology be posted in the hospital. It was eventually done and for some reason that doctor just doesn't like me any longer. Stick to your guns, guys! Even if the fault IS ours, we're all professionals and deserve to be treated as such.

We were a no meds camp for over 10 years. As the camp is for free for impoverished and abused kids, this means a LOT of kids never got a camp experience. I tried for 8 years to allow meds and finally won with the director. We use the "bingo cards." Parents are mostly on pharmaceutical assistance programs and we've had no problems getting approval for a week's worth of meds packaged this way. The local pharmacies all help us out and usually provide the packaging for free. Each pharmacy may have only 5 or 6 kids that go to camp so it's not a huge expense for them but a great community service. There's a separate card for each dose (e.g., if the med is BID then there are two cards). There are drawers for each time and we arrange all the kids meds so that everyone is getting their meds (other than prns) at the same time so that we don't spend 12 hours a day passing meds. If a kid shows up to camp with a properly labeled Rx bottle, he/she still comes to camp without the bingo cards. I tape the bottle to a blank card and stick it into the proper slot and simply dispense from the bottle. We've never had a problem. I've had complaints from other nurses who were used to not having meds, but this all about the campers NOT the nurses.

I'd like to see that too if you're still monitoring this thread! Thanks!

There are a LOT of school nurses doing camp nursing. They're off all summer and it gives them the freedom to go to camp. I also work with a lot of "travel" or "agency" nurses who don't need a benefits package and want to be able to control their schedules. A very good friend of mine clears his schedule every summer to go to the Denali National Park in Alaska in July and August to work as a camp/resort nurse. I work full time as a case manager working for the military. Even though I'm no longer in the army, the army is VERY good about giving me time off with pay to do community service within limits. I only do a couple of weeks each summer. I did one full summer camp 3 years ago and loved it. If I could find a good paying full time camp nurse position, I'd be there in a minute!

Many camps will take nursing students to assist licensed RNs. I try to find one or two RN students each year for two reasons: 1) I need the help. It's a volunteer camp and I'm usually the only nurse. It's fine if the kids aren't sick, but if they get sick and have to sleep in the infirmary that means I'm up all night checking on kids and then up all day again taking care of them. Makes for a grumpy camp nurse and 2) I'm an avid salesperson for camp nursing. The kids need us and fewer and fewer nurses are going to camp. We can simply make more money elsewhere and most nurses don't want to give up vacation time to volunteer. If I can give a student nurse a great camp experience, it's always my hope that the younger crowd will start doing camp to let us old folks off the hook once in a while!

If it's your first camp, do it as long as there's another RN with you that "knows the ropes." Once you've had a week or two with a mentor, go for it! If you like being outdoors and like being around kids, how can you lose?

I would strongly suggest you do some time in medical surgical nursing or pediatric nursing before venturing into camp nursing. If you really are interested in camp nursing and the camp will hire a new grad, make sure a more experienced RN is there with you to "show you the ropes." At many camps, like the two I have been working for the past 8 years, the RN is the sole medical provider (depending on the type of camp...I don't do "sick kid" camps--I get enough of that at work full time). All the decisions fall on you. Review some basic first aid and take a first aid manual with you. If you're not doing a cancer camp or the like, you'll be doing technical things like removing splinters, treating upset tummies and constipation (often one and the same) and maybe doing a few nebulizer treatments for mildly asthmatic kids. That's not too bad, but two years ago we had Noravirus running through the camp. My director was concerned the kids wouldn't "have fun or learn anything" and kept trying to thwart any attempt I made at trying to keep the sick kids and adults separated from one another. This is where experience comes in. You have to be able to fall back on skills and experience to say, "Tough noogies. I'm the only medical person here. The red cabin is in quarantine for 24 hours." No one gets sent home from this camp unless we simply can't take care of a problem. You may also be making decisions like, "It's too chilly today to allow the kids in the pool" or "Susie can't eat that ice cream as her mother states she's lactose intolerant" or "Moving everyone from the individual cabins into another larger cabin during a tornado warning makes no sense since we have no basement type shelter," etc. On a better note, camp nursing is the greatest. If I could find a year round camp job that pays as well as my case management job, you'd find me outdoors with kids "roughing it" all the time. Give me a hike or a kayaking trip with a skinned knee and a bug bite any day over the 9-5 and the politics of nursing!