geminiwanderlust

Working as the only medical person in a school setting is giving me a case of second guessing myself itis. Every time an emergency happens I question if I did everything right. Today I had a kiddo bust their mouth open—blood everywhere. He ended up needing five stitches. I'm kicking myself because I didn't tell mom to take him in. But honestly with mouth injuries I know stitches are rare. It's just hard because I keep beating myself up over all of these little things. I've been doing this five years now and I felt pretty good during Covid but a few parental issues recently have gotten me down. Now I'm questioning my nursing judgment. I don't have a ton of floor nursing experience but did work in a pediatric office. Wondering if I need more floor experience. I don't know. I'm probably just over thinking.

Sometimes I’m not sure I am cut out for this job. I have been a school nurse for two years now and I am just feeling like maybe I’m not right for this position. I struggle dealing with parents. I’m trying to work on my communication skills but it feels impossible to make everyone happy (and to respect COVID protocols). I’m struggling with one of my secretaries also—I travel between multiple buildings and must delegate a lot to her. She ignores my delegation and sometimes thinks she knows more than I do about how to manage some kids with chronic illnesses. I miss the confidence I had at my previous nursing position. I felt capable of handling anything thrown at me. I’m wondering if I should resign or stick it out one more year.

Zero of my ten years of other nursing experience counted when i became a school nurse. I was started on step zero of the teacher salary scale. I have heard that other nearby districts give 1/2 credit for years experience; I even tried to negotiate with no luck. I do struggle with the pay cut more than I thought I would. Even though my annual salary looks okay on paper, they take out so much of each check for retirement pension and union dues.

My first seven months as a school nurse have been quite an adventure. The first three months, I spent significant time wondering if I had made a huge mistake. At this point, I am feeling slightly better on that front. Today I learned that forevermore I must refer to what I always called "peanut allergies" the more broad "nut allergy." Thank you to irate parent number 2. Anyone else have any tips to avoid another angry phone call?

I was you six months ago. I even wrote a post with a very similar title. I began in March at my current position with almost zero training and juggling four different schools. Prior to this I was an OB nurse--which was helpful with my puberty talks. lol. Last year was a mess--trying to figure out what the old nurse and the sub nurse had done and not done was maddening. This year I feel like I kind of know what I should be doing and am starting to feel much more confident. I wanted to quit every day my first month--and I cried myself to sleep the first time a parent went crazy on me because I didn't send their "obviously" sick child home--he met zero guidelines for exclusion. So hang in there. It will get better. And learn to trust your own judgement without a doctor order to back you up.

I too am new at this. My only experience was subbing for a large district school--that had tons of guidelines and organization aid in place for one day a week for the start of this school year to getting hired full time by my local district, juggling four schools. I have been here one month--and I should've realized a nurse leaving in the middle of the school year is never a good sign. I am trying to hang in there--but nothing prepared me for parents complaining to the principal about me already. I didn't send their son home after two visits to the clinic--no fever, just a stomach ache. I also talked to dad twice and kept him abreast of the situation. Dad complained that "I gave too much reassurance that johnny was fine." So trust that you are not alone. I can't imagine being a new grad on top of this. I had 8 years prior experience in ob/gyn and L&D. This is tough job and I am cringing at the coworker nurse who told me "what a cupcake job" when I first told them I was going to take a full time school nursing position.

Ok this made me feel a lot better!

Well unfortunately I am not allowed to structure my own days very well. My schedule is set. Monday and Wednesday I spend 1/2 day each at the two boring small schools. Tuesdays I am at the busy school all day. Thurdays I am at a medium school. And Friday I spend the morning at the busy school and the afternoon at the small school. I wish I had more control, but the smaller schools are private and have a contract with the bigger district, so I am committed to 2.5 days a week. there. I think I might start to look for a new position as guilty as that makes me feel in the district I subbed in. Rumor has it there will be an opening for one school come fall. I just feel like I am flailing with no assistance or guidance.

I am replacing a nurse that had been here for ten years who left in the middle of the school year because she was frustrated at having to juggle four schools after being at one previously. She left things in great shape. All screenings done from what I can see (except for NTD) and immunization letters were sent end of January. The supervisor seems very busy and hates it when I ask too many questions...She cuts me off all the time. She is the head of health services and seems to just be overextended. It seems medical alert lists are up to date with EAPS in a binder. I did not like the wording of some of the EAPs, so I rewrote several already.

I've been working as a school nurse for a little over three weeks at my local district. I am juggling four schools. My previous experience is limited--I was a substitute school nurse one day a week for six months at a larger well organized district. I feel like I have no idea what I'm doing. I am wondering if I made the biggest mistake of my life. One of the schools is a small private school and I literally stare at the wall while I am there because I have no students visiting the clinic and no idea what else I should be doing. I have been given limited resources, no protocols or policy/procedure. Subbing was very different--the clinics were very busy, lots of meds and diabetics, even a tube feed. All the charting was electronic which I excel at and I was primarily at the same school. I loved it. Now I feel idle and that paperwork is the only thing I will ever be doing. And I don't know how to handle so many situations. I forgot to send a head injury form home with a student (because I really hadn't even been briefed on the subject) and got nicely talked to by my supervisor because the parent was upset.

You guys are not alone. I am in Ohio and also in the first funding preference. My GPA is 3.5, I have already completed 1 1/2 years of nursing school. I only have 2 semesters left. My credit is decent. I was also very optimistic until I read this forum. I have not received any emails or anything. I think there are a lot of us out there--and it may still be too early to give up hope. No one really knows how this whole process works and how the bureaucracy of the HRSA is functioning.