School clinic substitutes- help!

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Hi all!

I am new to school nursing and so far, I love it! I have one issue that seems to be a constant problem that no one is concerned about changing. On occasion I have needed to be off b/c of a sick child (haven't all of us?) and I call my little (and I mean little) list of subs. There are 20 schools and like 17 subs for the entire county, which the majority of them already have jobs. What do all of you do when you have to be out and cannot find a sub for yourself?? I hate leaving my work on someone else (esp. a secretary that didn't sign up for that job). The school health coordinator isn't concerned, bc well... she isn't affected by it :mad:. She doesn't need to find a sub for herself when she's out, so why make it a priority for the nurses at the schools. Just my opinion :twocents:! Any help or ideas would be much appreciated!!

I was actually told by my director that it is difficult to find a sub for my clinic and many of the ladies who have subbed for me before will not come back. They say because it is very busy and the special needs kids have complex needs. The director actually asked me to contact my principal and ask him to let the teachers know there will be a sub and to "please be nice to her". I did, but he never sent an email out about it. I thought it was a very odd request to say the least. :confused:

As a sub nurse, I actually see some value in this idea (though I wouldn't personally want it done for me). When the students find out there is a sub in your office, they all come out. The teachers need to have a handle on this, as they know their students and which are likely to be abusing the fact that there is a sub. I have had students come who are chronic visitors, but because I don't have the full background, it is difficult to make a proper disposition. I've even had teachers send students to me when their special ed plan specifically states that they are to be sent to their special ed person or counselor before the nurse.

So, yes, I think it's appropriate for the teachers to know that there is a sub and to think carefully about which students need to go to the nurse. At the very least, I need to know some history on some kids, like the fact that Johnny has 'the worst headache of my life' everyday when it's time for math.

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Specializes in school nursing.

It is a problem in our district. We have only a few subs. The money is awful and some of the schools just dump all over them when they fill in. Therefore, the subs we do have are picky about where they go and I don't blame them a bit!

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Please do take off when you are ill or yhour child is ill. There is no motivation to fix the sub issue if you continue to go in whenyou should not.

This month's issue of the Journal of School Nursing has a research article on the school nurse sub situation in Illinois: http://jsn.sagepub.com/content/27/2.toc

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Specializes in ICU, Hospice, Nursing Education.
Please do take off when you are ill or yhour child is ill. There is no motivation to fix the sub issue if you continue to go in whenyou should not.

You are absolutely right and I hadn't really thought about it that way.

Unfortunately, when you take off without a sub... the secretary is put out by it and end up having to do the nurse's job and it doesn't affect the one who SHOULD be doing something about it. It would be nice if that person (the coordinator) had to cover... and then something might change. But, that is not the way it works in my district.

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