scout mom

Teacher just sent down a 1st grader because her "stomach hurts." This student A: Played at recess and just came in from recess within the last 10 minutes B: Will be out of school in 15 minutes. C'mon now.

That's kind of the problem though. The majority of surrounding districts either don't have a nurse at all or have part time nurses, but no FT and one district has a LOT more tax money than we do so it's like apples and oranges.

Just curious as to whether the majority of school nurses are salaried or hourly. & what the average hourly pay rate or salary is for rural schools. I'm honestly just curious to see if what I make is average because I'm hourly and I took a HUGE paycut to work at the school.

There are 2 schools in my district covering PK-12th grades. My admins are still requiring that I do mass (school wide) screenings for head lice for K-8th. I am doing them 1/2 as often as the previous nurse and this year, I have tried to eliminate screenings for 6-8th grades. My principal insisted that I do them. I have provided admin with current recommendations & have talked until I'm blue in the face. Doesn't matter. Point is, for head checks, no, my poor kids have absolutely NO privacy since their whole class is waiting to be screened and I have all my other visits to deal with. Ridiculous

I've told kids that I have many awesome skills, but unfortunately, mind reading isn't one of them & if they need something, they need to tell me.

I don't know how many times a day I hear "My teacher told me to come get an ice pack. My teacher told me that I need my temperature checked. My teacher told me ________________." & this year, there's a new K aid that walks the student over and stands in the doorway the entire time. She doesn't even let the kids talk. Even better is when a student has a temp of 99.4 and she tells the teacher they have a fever. Seriously? She even has 3 kids of her own.

Apparently two Kinders decided it would be a good idea to throw poopy toilet paper at each other in the bathroom. Then they had to wait in here for what seemed like eternity because, of course, we couldn't reach any family. Is it Thanksgiving break yet?!

At this point, I'm not even attempting to change our "No Nit" policy. I KNOW that is a losing battle right now. I'm just trying to get rid of our unnecessary checks. The kids come in during their PE time, so admin doesn't really see missing PE as the same as missing classroom time. It' a small town & lice has such a stigma, I think the parents are all scared of their kids getting it. Yet if I send a kid home with it, the whole town will find out because it is a small town. Crazy.

Yes, I meant FERPA.

I have provided them with the AAP, CDC & NASN handouts. & I have also pointed out the HIPAA violation. It hasn't helped at all. Grrr!

Good point. It's just so frustrating. There was a lice issue 10 or 15 years ago & they can't let go of it. Do they not follow current academic recommendations because there was a previous issue?! It makes no sense!

When I started working for our district, we were doing lice checks every other week for K-8 and a firm no nit policy. I provided information and did manage to decrease checks once a month for K-8 and a still firm no nit policy. I'm beginning my 6th year here. We have a new principal this year and I've tried talking to her about lice checks, but she said she's read it and we're still doing checks. She states she has discussed with our superintendent. This is ridiculous especially for 6-8 students. Anyone have an ideas on any other ways I go can with this?

Apparently, the squirrel took off running because kids were throwing mulch at it and scratched the student's leg, barely. Just a dot. All parties involved were ok. I just a picture of the squirrels and they were tiny baby squirrels and VERY friendly.

I had a fourth grader come in to see me. I asked her what she needed and she began with "Well, there was a squirrel on the playground at recess..." Me: "That's all I need to hear" as I died laughing. It's been a long week.

That's the crazy part, I've never seen her parents or older brothers behave that politely!

Yesterday, my husband was picking up our daughter after am Pre-K. He was talking to her and one of her friends about whatever and the conversation came to an end. The little friend said "Well, it was nice to meet you" and stuck her hand out/up for a hand shake. I turned around and died laughing because it was hilarious and so stinking cute! Love those little Pre-Kers!!

When I was a bedside nurse, I hated bedside report. I totally agree with giving report and then going in together to check wounds, lines, meds, etc... but not full report at beside. As a patient, I feel the same way. Within a week, I was a patient in 3 hospitals (2 transfers to hospitals with higher levels of care) and not one of the hospitals routinely did bedside report. At the last hospital (a large teaching hospital), I'm not sure if ICU did bedside report, because I don't remember much about the ICU, but the Cardiac Care floor did not. & my husband & I were perfectly ok with that. Give report, then come in to check on me, answer any quick questions & introduce the oncoming staff. That's all you need IMO. If I have more in depth questions, I can talk to the RN or Dr later not during shift change. & you sure as heck better not wake me up so that I am "involved" in bedside report. Especially when I just got to sleep after being woken up multiple times. But maybe that's just me...

I also love the fact that I can have my phone with me, text if I need/want to and have music on in my office all day!

One day, I was heating up food on a paper plate in my office. I bring in extra plates from my kiddos birthdays, etc... and this one was a glitter/sparkle princess plate. Not thinking, I put it in the microwave and the glitter edge caught fire. Like, extinguish in the sink fire. My whole office and school main hallway smelled. For whatever reason, the fire alarm did not go off, thank goodness. It was freezing outside, the fire department would have came and everyone would know that it was my fault. I live in a small town, so yes, EVERYONE would have known.

This is me too. My 3 kids all ride to work with me. Little is in 1/2 day Pre-K, and the oldest often rides the bus home, but middle always comes in & hangs out. I also have the food drawer. :) I get to see my kiddos throughout the day and all their friends. Easy to keep tabs on them!

If you want luxury, do not become a school nurse unless your husband has a good job. I live well, but not because of my income. I love my job, but I took a huge pay cut when I got out of the hospital. The trade offs are definitely worth it to me though.

When I first started nursing, I worked med-surg & we were so short staffed that I would sometimes have 4-5 patients on nights while was I still on orientation as a brand new nurse. Our average load was 8-9 patients on night shifts with some nights having as many as 10 or 11. Our PCT's would usually have up to 15 patients. If they had the same load as the RN, it was a good night. I transferred to ICU after a couple of years, which I liked a lot better, but staffing was still an issue. I worked in a smallish hospital with an 8 bed ICU and usually 3 primary shift RN's. A RN was on medical leave while I was on orientation and I was working as the 3rd RN on weekends. When I went on nights, we were short staffed a RN and for quite a few Saturday nights, there was only 1 other RN and myself for the whole unit. I remember one particular night, we had 8 patients, 4 of which were vents. No clerk, no tech. RT was wonderful and would help us turn patients, etc... They did increase staffing to 4 RN's a shift, but they also added another bed. Still no tech and no clerk for evenings or nights.

Thank you! It was way scarier for my family than for me actually. I knew as a RN about what was going on, but my thinking was pretty fuzzy about all of it. I've definitely learned to roll with things. Life isn't always what you planned. Aside from my previous post, I also developed Grave's Disease (TSH 0.00) after my first son was born. After jacking around with meds & RI for a couple years, I had to have a total thyroidectomy. Post-op was supposed be an overnight hospital stay which turned into a week because my Ca kept dropping to critical levels. After 12 years, I have to continue to be diligent with Ca and Vitamin D replacement. My point is that there are good days and bad days. I have been exhausted with my thyroid issues too, but it gets better. Take care of yourself. Find out what works for you personally for your Lupus management. Don't get defeated. Keep on truckin' and help to work towards the best solution for your family. You'll get there!

Hang in there! In 2016, I was very ill. So sick that I didn't know how sick I was and not being 100% truthful with Dr about problems (I'm a horrible patient and tend to downplay any health issues with myself). By the time I was admitted to hospital in December, I was in multi-system organ failure d/t an EF of Anyways, I am a school nurse and there was no way I could work FT the rest of the year. I wasn't allowed to work PT, per our district ,so I remained off work until August. Since then, I have worked full time and have been doing ok. Some days are better than others. I will say that there is NO way I could work 12 hour bedside shifts. School nurse is 8 hours of busy, but different busy. Also, I have 3 kids and a husband working 12 hour swing shifts. Please don't give up yet. You'll find you'll nook somewhere, some time and love it

I'm a huge klutz so I have embarrassing moments almost daily, but the one wardrobe issue I recall is when I was newer nurse working nights on med/surg & realized that I forgot to change underwear before work. We were required to wear white scrubs and I had left on my black underwear. I had to leave my scrub jacket around my waist all night.