RN4kidz11

Remember when the CDC and surgeon general were debating on people wearing masks in the early days of the pandemic? Their arguments were people would be touching their faces more and wearing masks incorrectly. With school returning in the fall, states are making decisions with masks. I hate saying it, but I am not for masks. The cloth masks are a piece of tshirt fabric and these kids are going to be wearing them wrong and touching their faces, introducing more germs. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Can someone please help me understand as I am struggling with this. Kids also get runny noses and sneeze without knowing a sneeze is coming. Don’t forget vomiting without feeling the urge... Also, fevers with respiratory issues are common all year round when school starts back up. I’m just imagining the paranoia and hysteria... Also, the hybrid days do not make sense to me either. Parents will need childcare if their child is younger. If granny watches the child, doesn’t that expose her, defeating the purpose? Plus, lots of kids will end up staying home alone too young. Teen pregnancy will probably sky rocket among other issues. What are your all’s thoughts? Am I crazy for my thought process? I’m just at a loss with all of this.

Hello! I am an RN currently working as a school nurse as a private duty nurse. I took this position last year in February (which is actually an lpn position) while waiting for the real school nurse job position to open up. There's only 5 school nurses and I'm worried I'll never have a chance bc they all seem content! With that said, if I even get that position, when I retire the most I'll be making is $40-49k. Right now I'm making 25k. The money is very low but I'm married and my husband makes enough and my real concern is being available for my kindergarten daughter which this job allows. I was also thinking of switching to teaching as a.) they get more respect than I do, b.) they get paid more and can retire with $68k plus better benefits, and c.) my job is not very secure as a private duty nurse. I actually wanted to be a teacher growing up but switched to nursing bc I had heard nurses were in short demand and paid more than teachers. I was also at the top of my class in school and since graduating 7 years ago I have not found a job I loved, but my priorities weren't my career it was starting a family so I missed out on falling in love with nursing and really getting lots of good experience. My perfect job would be working with kids where I'm actually respected and the flexibility and hours to be able to be with my daughter when she's not in school so she doesn't need childcare....any advice?

Great posts! Good to know what kind of things to expect!

I am a pediatric nurse and am interviewing for a school nurse position next week. Thankfully, I have not had any experience with pediatric emergencies even though I am PALS certified and have 5 years peds experience. I am always worried if I will have what it takes when an emergency occurs. So to prepare myself for a school nurse emergency, I'm wondering what kinds of situations have you all experienced in your job as a school rn and what did you do and what were the outcomes? Thanks!

My question is shouldn't we have given the baby a break to rehydrate? She could take in fluids just fine- (she had RSV so she could take in fluids it was just difficult because of her congestion). I think a break after being restrained is protocol right?? We were in there for about an hour and only took off the restraints for about 2 minutes total.

Thank you for the feedback. To answer your questions-in nursing school I was taught that a tourniquet really isn't necessary unless you absolutely need it and it is painful. I personally think a tourniquet is worse than the IV on me so I took off the tourniquet after they got in, perhaps I shouldn't have. Pedialyte is stored at the opposite end of the unit and when I was sent to get supplies I had to hurry so the room we were in had water and that's what I used to moisten the baby's mouth. Maybe 1 mL was total all that she got. They did not use a light or warm packs but that is a very good idea that I wish I would have thought about.

I graduated 3 years ago. I am new to the peds floor. Yesterday we started an IV on a 6 month old baby who was slightly dehydrated and VERY chunky (24 pounds). I was comforting the baby while the IV team nurse and my trainer were attempting to start the IV. I am very traumatized but here is what happened: Strap baby down on table across the chest and legs. Baby is wiggling a lot and rubbing herself red where the restraints are. She's screaming crying. They tie the tourniquet and baby screams and cries even more. Arm turns red and face turns red, no tears bc baby is dehydrated. IV is inserted and baby gasps for air and screams harder and keeps turning her face. There is no blood return so the nurse wiggles cath around. This goes on for about 15 secs-I removed the tourniquet bc they forgot to. They decide the IV is useless and they take it out. This took about 3-4 mins. They find another site and attempt again. this time they mess with the IV for about 4-5 mins bc it has a kink in it but it is in the vein. Baby is reacting the same way and I'm getting worried bc she has been crying like this for about 10 mins, rubbing herself raw against the restraint and she is continuously red from crying. They finally decide to take the IV out. I take the restraint off and sit the baby up and try to comfort her. They joked that they are cold hearted and they can tell I'm new. They want to attempt her legs now. So we lay her back and begin again. This goes on for about 20 more mins. They need more supplies so I leave. I asked if I should get a paci and they said it wouldn't help. I got one anyways. I come back and had some water so I could keep dipping the paci in it bc I noticed the baby's lips were now chapped and her mouth had no moisture. The baby keeps falling in and out of sleep these last few times which lasted about 15 minutes. The baby only had two very very small breaks (about 1 minute each), we were in there for 45mins to an hour, the baby had nothing to drink except what I was offering from dipping water on the paci. I am so upset about this. This was over 24 hours and I am so sad. I am going to the mgr and asking about a different process for insertion of IVs on babies. I'm new to the unit and hospital and I don't want to overstep but I feel this could have been done a better way. What do you think?