Rough Day Yesterday

[KKEGS, MSN, RN]

Too many issues to go into but, in a nutshell, I have never had a nursing job where I felt like my skills and profession were so disrespected and devalued...until this one. This new district in particular. I woke up today just feeling defeated and wanting to cry. It's only week 7 of our school year. How do you handle not being supported by your administration? I didn't have that feeling in my last district. I had WONDERFUL principals and a Director of Student Support Services who knew how important we were and supported us. Help!

[ruby_jane, BSN, RN]

I am truly sorry. I have had days like that in the past six years, but not whole weeks at a time. Document everything. Every. Little. Thing. Do you belong to a union? If so, consider if it's time to bring the union to a meeting with administration?

Hang in there.

[OldDude]

Wait until the "fit hits the shan" and you'll see how much you are valued! School nurses are easily taken for granted and frequently considered the "opposition" if you don't walk lockstep with each staff member's personal agenda. But, like children, setting limits and being consistent, over time will temper the attitude, and after a few years when you're not the new guy things will settle down.

I still feel some staff think my only role here is to clean dog poop off shoes, unstick zippers, clean stick-on tattoos off faces, and similar advanced nursing skill tasks. But have some kid start flopping around on the floor of the library and all of a sudden I'm very popular on campus. I've had some good admin before and I've had some bad admin before. They've come and gone...I'm still here.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

And, it least in my world, admin changes...on a regular basis. Just ride it out, you will be there longer than them!

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

Like Old Dude said, admin come and go. I've seen quite a few go in a shorter period of time than I expected. I feel very appreciated now by most, but it took me time to get there. Now at year 5 at my school, I'm more respected, even more so by newer admin I helped show the ropes to!

[KKEGS, MSN, RN]

I am truly sorry. I have had days like that in the past six years, but not whole weeks at a time. Document everything. Every. Little. Thing. Do you belong to a union? If so, consider if it's time to bring the union to a meeting with administration?

Hang in there.

Yeah...the teachers union. I don't have high hopes.

[WineRN]

Wait until the "fit hits the shan" and you'll see how much you are valued! .

This. I'm still new to this role and building and there was a handful on staff who definitely didn't appreciate me...until I gave that Epi a few weeks ago during the fire drill.

They aren't in our office day to day, but more importantly they don't come from a medical background. They just don't get it, and to be fair, there are things I just don't get about their jobs.

[Amethya]

It's hard I know. I was told that I don't do my job in lice checks and it's like, what lice checks? Since school started, I only gotten one report on this! If people actually open their mouth instead of talking behind my back, maybe these checks can be done. But it's okay, I did my part and all I can do is my job, and let haters hate. I put my foot down this year, and I communicated with my admin, it took a year to get them to trust me enough and it's worked. Just keep your chin up, I would try to talk about your concerns and see what can come up and what can be done as a team. Don't give up!

[NurseBeans, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

I have felt that way over and over again...but like the others said, just wait until some kid bounces their head off a piece of playground equipment and has a laceration no one can stomach. Then they're all over you.

I just came to the conclusion that not only do they not know my job, they don't care. As long as someone other than them takes care of the bloody stuff and the medicine stuff, they don't care. Don't try to make them care. Just do your nursey thing and reinforce policies to them PRN. I know our lice policy by heart :)

[peacockblue]

Some of it has to come from the internal knowledge that you really make a difference. I don't think we will ever be recognized by admin as important but when that one kid writes you a note and says, "Mrs. Peacock, I would have never made it through the last 4years to graduation without you always believing in me." Then you know that no matter what anyone thinks , your job counts. Or as Old Dude says, when you snatch a child from the jaws of deathí ½í¸‚

[momto5RN]

This breaks my heart!! Hang in there, please, it really is a great job in nursing!! Now I'm going to sound like a hypocrite but that is why I left my school nurse position after two school years this past June. Now, that it is NOT to say I will never return to school nursing because I totally will...in the future!! But, I worked in a small Catholic school and the administrator was a Nun!!!! She had ZERO clue what my role was about and we got into a heavy debate about a student that was suicidal. I knew no matter what I said, she would not understand at all where I was coming from. So I resigned. She was completely unprofessional in every sense of the word and did not appreciate the times where I was truly needed.....student with syncope, concussions, broken bones, asthma attacks, etc, etc. I left graciously as I did with every other job I have had and she hardly responded to me. Also, I am still new to nursing and want to learn as much as I can so I felt it was a good time for me to leave and explore other options. With all this said, I know where you are coming from and everyone above is exactly right! Hang in there and enjoy those children! They are what makes the job the best (and the schedule of course!!!). Give it some time!

[SchoolNurseTXstyle]

Wait until the "fit hits the shan" and you'll see how much you are valued! School nurses are easily taken for granted and frequently considered the "opposition" if you don't walk lockstep with each staff member's personal agenda. But, like children, setting limits and being consistent, over time will temper the attitude, and after a few years when you're not the new guy things will settle down.

I still feel some staff think my only role here is to clean dog poop off shoes, unstick zippers, clean stick-on tattoos off faces, and similar advanced nursing skill tasks. But have some kid start flopping around on the floor of the library and all of a sudden I'm very popular on campus. I've had some good admin before and I've had some bad admin before. They've come and gone...I'm still here.

YES!!! Well said.