Anyone need to vent? Here's a place to do it. I'll start.

In case you don't know me, I'm one month into this job, coming from 5yrs exp in office OB/GYN. Spoke with my district nurse today re: familiar faces from one of my kinderbug classes. After that discussion, she asked me how things are going otherwise. I said great, love the little people, etc. She asked me if I figured out how to chart immunizations on my new kids in EMR, I said I think so. She asked me if I had done hearing/vision on them and charted it. Uh, lady, you're my boss. I've never done this before. How would I have known that I needed to do that?

Feeling inadequate today. Thankful for weekends and for AN friends to listen.

Anyone else feeling it after this week?

Hang in there, this is a learn as you go vocation. Maybe ask her to chart out the position's responsibilities on a month by month basis on a calendar, or schedule. It does discourage you a lot though when that happens.

Ugh that's the worst Sorry. This job really is a lot of learning as you go and figuring it out as you go. Is there another nurse in the district you can ask for guidance? Do you have the book "School Nursing, A comprehensive Text" by Selekman? If not, I highly recommend you buy it- great resource. I also have "Fast Facts for the School Nurse, School Nursing in a Nutshell", by Janice Loschavio. There is a calendar in the appendix that goes month by month with recommendations about what the nurse "should" be doing (taken with a grain of salt of course). I found this really helpful my first year (last year) to even have an idea of what I should ask about.

Join your state nurses association. Check in with other neighboring schools and talk to the nurses there.

Thanks all, I appreciate you guys (and this board!) so much. I'll look into the books mentioned. My district has two other nurses, one of which I subbed for at the beginning of the year before getting this job. She's known as Nurse Hatchet, she's a cut/dry kind of lady. Before break, I felt so bored with daily tasks. I saw kids coming and going, but that was it. Now I feel like I must've been missing something, because I keep finding misc tasks that were left unfinished by the nurse who started the year and then quit (giving me a job!) such as following kids with immunizations that aren't up to date. Speaking of, at what point do you classify it a lost cause? Of my 250 kiddos, I have a dozen that I don't have complete records on.

Guidance please :|

Our state has a database of everyone's immunizations put out/kept by the State Health Dept. Maybe your other nurse contacts would know. Most of the times the provider will document the shots given, but sometimes they are not in the database. Send a letter home requesting records, call parents for records.

Here is a rant.

My ADULT secretary came into my office before my duty day started to ask me to "look at this weird lump on her butt cheek"

Yeah. No.

She asked twice. I refused twice.

Here is a rant.

My ADULT secretary came into my office before my duty day started to ask me to "look at this weird lump on her butt cheek"

Yeah. No.

She asked twice. I refused twice.

Didn't there used to be a smiley shaking it's head no???

Didn't there used to be a smiley shaking it's head no???

That one might work is this situation.

It's so funny too because just yesterday by AP came in here and asked me if I was having an issue with staff coming in for their own health problems.

Thanks all, I appreciate you guys (and this board!) so much. I'll look into the books mentioned. My district has two other nurses, one of which I subbed for at the beginning of the year before getting this job. She's known as Nurse Hatchet, she's a cut/dry kind of lady. Before break, I felt so bored with daily tasks. I saw kids coming and going, but that was it. Now I feel like I must've been missing something, because I keep finding misc tasks that were left unfinished by the nurse who started the year and then quit (giving me a job!) such as following kids with immunizations that aren't up to date. Speaking of, at what point do you classify it a lost cause? Of my 250 kiddos, I have a dozen that I don't have complete records on.

Guidance please :|

Never a lost cause. Just keep plugging, get admin on board. It WILL fall back on you if thereis a preventable outbreak.