amandarn10

Just a funny story I had to share: I was giving "the puberty talk" to a class of fifth graders yesterday when the classroom phone rang. It was the Secretary (who I love dearly, but has no healthcare background). In a panic, she says "I need you in the office, there's an emergency!" I get a little worried because the teacher had stepped out, so I am the only one in a classroom with 17 fifth grade girls so I can't really just leave then alone. "What's the emergency?!" I ask, expecting my peanut - allergic first grader to be in anaphylactic shock from eating something with nuts at their Valentine's party. "I have a kindergartner here who had an accident and needs help cleaning up and changing!" hahaha. Sigh of relief! I was like "Ok well it's 3:15 (school ends at 3:30), just call her parents and see of they can pick her up a little early..." Don't worry, we all made it through the rest of the day okay!

This chart is from the Illinois States Board of Education - I like it because it pretty clearly lays out the descriptions for the heat indices (and wind chills). I think sharing with staff members can help them to understand the importance and help in making sure they know that extended exposure can cause damage. http://www.isbe.net/pdf/school_health/wind-heat-chart.pdf Overall, for walking laps, I would say it depends HOW high the heat index is, how old the kids are, is the area shaded, etc.

Just wanted to open this up to get some tips/tricks for physical assessments. I am new to school nursing and no peds background. I have had kids start with physical complaints (sore throat, head aches, etc). I had a heck of a time trying to evaluate an 8 year old's throat. Luckily, he asked to use the bathroom when in the office so I had a minute to look up tricks and found one telling him to "Pant like a dog" to help visualize the throat - It totally worked and I could see his throat clearly! Just wondering what other techniques people use and that work when working with kids

Where do you get the decorations (posters, etc) and health resources (pamphlets, etc) for your school's health office? I have to set up and decorate my office and not sure where to start?I'm going to check my local health department, but any other ideas for good websites/resources for free/cheap posters or public health info??

I'm starting in the fall too! Excited to start (and nervous!) it's great too have an online community of peers since school nursing can seem so solitary!

I am starting my first school nursing job this fall, in 3 weeks. One of my 1st tasks is to decide what software system the school should use for documentation. From what I understand the main options are Teacherease, Nursesaide, SNAP, and health center. Has anybody used any of these systems or have any feedback about this so I can have a heads up? Thanks!

I would like to do the same thing. From what I understand, in my state it is a 2-3 semester courseload, not just a test, so it is very time consuming and also expensive. I'm interested in hearing feedback from others who have done this as well...

Thanks!! I appreciate the feedback a lot!! I learned that the school is part of a special ed co-op that oversees things and I guess there is a certified school nurse through that as well, so that helps a little too. I accepted :)

So I'm just looking for some advice from others who've been in the field. I've been working as a nurse for about 3 1/2 years. The first 10 months as inpatient oncology (hated it), then 1 year as outpatient ortho(loved it) then promoted to a leadership position in my department (I like my coworkers and thought I'd enjoy the position but learned I don't like the management aspect). I've been looking into school nursing jobs for the past few months, applied for jobs and actually shadowed a school nurse for a couple hours. I applied for a job a few weeks ago and interviewed yesterday at a relatively small K thru 8 school with about 300 students. The current school nurse I interviewed with said their biggest struggle is the poverty rate (whereas the school I shadowed was in a wealthy area but had a lot of chronically ill/medically frail students). The school I interviewed with actually called me back a few hours after the interview and said they thought I'd be a great fit and offered me the position. I didn't expect them to get back to me so fast, so I didnt have an answer just yet. I was hoping to get get some honest feedback from someone who's been there, or if you have any advice about things to ask before accepting the job? The school only has one nurse and there are no other schools in the district. The current nurse has been there for several years and is moving on to another district for a more administrative type role but the superintendent said that they would keep her on for the summer to do training with me a couple hours a week (obviously no students there at that time). It is pretty intimidating since I'd be the only nurse in the school (and it's a one district school). But they did say they would be able to keep the current nurse in a contracted position so I could contact her with questions if I needed to. I really want to do it but going in with no relevant experience and no coworkers scares the heck out of me :) any advice would be appreciated!!