SN43

I would only leave mid year under very extreme circumstances (medical situation with family, emergency, etc). Working while having children poses many difficult challenges under the best circumstances, even when you work close to home. You may want to find a solution to get you through the year. If by the spring he and you are still unhappy, you can finish the year and look for a new job while still employed. Often school nurse jobs are listed in the spring, as that is when people tell their administration that they are leaving in September. It's a good time to find another job too. I would not leave a job until I had something else in place. And I would not feel good about leaving a school midyear. Just my two cents though.

I did not choose school nursing because of the salary. ? Yes, my salary is going to be less than the teachers. Quite frankly I am making less annually than I did 18 years ago in a hospital! But It works with having a family. You never have to figure out if you can get Thanksgiving off. You get to really know your students and families over the course of many years. The impact you can have on a student's health and well being is meaningful.

My school has a no cell phone policy so I remind them of that. However there are times that I ask them to get their cell phone - sometimes I am unable to reach a parent, and they have additional numbers or the parent more easily responds to the child's text to call the nurse. Other than that, while in my office for confidentiality reasons and to be consistent with the school policy, I do not permit their use.

Same here. If buddy comes with a student, I thank them for helping out and then instruct them to return to class. There is no reason for them to stay and every reason for them to be in class. Missing academic time is harmful to them. And sitting and observing students coming in and out of the health office at nurse is inappropriate in my opinion.

I find it helpful for those kids who are a little glum about school. I remind them that we are in the home stretch and can let them know how few days we have left. You have to be careful though, as some high achievers will get anxious if they are preparing for Regents and deadlines for projects...so you definitely need to know your student. ?

Being yelled at by a parent is so incredibly unpleasant. It has definitely happened to me from time to time and never gets more fun. I like to think that over the years I have built up "community karma" by going out of my way to help families & students and by being reliable and honest. When word spreads to parents about how helpful or exceptional you are, it makes it harder for a angry parents to get any other parents to support them. I am by no means perfect. I make mistakes. I apologize to parents when I am wrong and I am always trying to do better but sometimes no matter what you do, even if it was not a mistake on your part, there may be someone who yells at you. I just remember that there are 99.8% of appreciative kind & wonderful parents.

I think starting as a school nurse immediately out of school is challenging because for the most part you are really on your own and it is a lot of responsibility. We do not have all the resources & staff of a hospital or doctor's office. I came to school nursing after about 10 years doing other types of nursing and still it required a huge learning curve for me. I had to learn a lot on my own and had to develop shortcuts and ways to make it easier to get all the paperwork and requirements done. Every year it gets easier, but it is a lot of responsibility. I'm not sure if I personally would have been able to do it right out of school though.