Return to Hospital from School Nursing. Any experience with this?

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Hello All!

My husband is applying for a position in Northwest Arkansas. We currently live in Texas. I have worked as a school nurse for the last two years, and have been out of the hospital for 2 1/2 years. I was job searching on the internet for positions in AR, and I found one school nurse position opening. The salary was much less than I anticipated.

Nurses there are not on the teachers' salary schedule. Here in Texas I get paid the same as a teacher. I am originally from Arkansas. I grew up there and did my schooling there. So I know that the pay of a nurse is much less than here in Texas. However, I do not think I can afford to take that large of a paycut working as a school nurse there.

So I am considering (what I thought that I would never again consider :eek:) returning to the hospital. I was just wondering if anyone has left school nursing to return to the hospital. If so, how confident did you feel returning. Did you have to go through additional skill training due to being out of the hospital for an extended period?

Any experiences shared would be appreciated! I am so nervous about returning to the hospital! :uhoh3:

I have been considering Home Health as well.

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I was a stay at home mom for 7 years before returning to hospital nursing. They treated me as a new grad & I went through all of the hospital's "new grad" orientation classes. It's like riding a bike. After 7yrs "away" from the workforce, all my skills came back to me without any problems.

Good luck.

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I'm a school nurse also and have been for 12 years. I'm thinking of going back to a clinical/hospital setting and was wondering about a refresher course, but they're soooo expensive and it's really more the technical stuff I'm worried about, not the knowledge and theory. I'm wondering if hospitals would do the orientation? Have you tried that?

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The technical skills is my concern as well. Safarirn, thanks for your post. That makes me feel much more confident! Newman4wy, I haven't started applying for jobs yet. However, that is a good idea to see if the hospitalls would do the refresher courses.

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I was a school health nurse for a year and a half, in may accepted a med/surg staff nurse position and plan to sub in the fall for school health. I REGRET LEAVING. I miss the autonomy and the niche I finally found. Med/surg the skills come back quickly (been a nurse for 10 years). I have already called my school health supervisor asking for my job back. My happiness is worth more than the salary I am paid.

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Hello I am a new graduate nurse I am also doing med surgical at the moment;however I am interested in becoming a schoool nurse.I have no idea what steps I need to take to become a school nurse could you please offer some ideas. Thankyou

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My husband relocates often for his job. Three times I accepted acute care positions after being in school nursing or quality improvement, out of the hospital setting, the longest stretch was 6 years. I was very anxious.

Every time, within 2 weeks, I had my sea legs back. I had to look up a lot of new meds, learned yet another new generation of pumps, learned how to use the medication dispensing systems, etc. But the kids are the same, parents are the same and the processes are the same. Your greatest skills, interviewing and assessment, are as good as they ever were.

Good luck!!!

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I was a school nurse for 5 years and then took 10 years off to stay home with the kids. I went back to school nursing part-time for 3 years and this spring applied for a hospital position and was hired! I was very nervous but excited to learn. The hospital put me through all the orientation I needed. I love being back in the hospital most of the time getting to re-learn and use all the skills I haven't been able to use in years. It does all come back pretty quickly. Good luck!

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Sorry for the late reply shellyheil1. I don't know if you are still interested in know about how to get into school nursing, but I thought I would go ahead and reply to you just in case.

I honestly just applied to a position and was hired. However, I worked in a Very large school district where school nurse positions open often. In a smaller area where there aren't as many positions opening, my best advice would be to contact the nurse manager for the district to see if you could be a sub. I know that sometimes smaller districts will hire from their substitute pool.

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So did you start working in a hospital again?

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