School Nurse: Can you become one without "hospital" experience

[angelofmusicRN]

Hi All!

I'm closing in on 8 months post graduation and NCLEX, and still haven't landed a patient care RN position. I won't bore you with the details, just suffice it to say that the job market in the NYC/North Jersey metro area has not been kind to this late 30-something career changer.

A new strategy I'm considering is pursuing the school nurse route. I'm a certified teacher with 5 years of teaching experience in a number of long-term substitute or support positions, so I know the K-12 environment well. Unfortunately for me, I never found a job that was mine to keep, so I ended up working for a law firm for the past 10 years. I still do medical litigation support there, which is not a bad gig really. It's just not the sort of experience hospitals value, and not necessarily what I'd love to do for the rest of my working years either.

To cut to the chase, I'd love to hear from school nurses, particularly those who were hired by school districts without having gone through that "rite of passage" that is working in a hospital for a couple years. Is that even possible? How was that received by your principals?

I have found a school nurse certificate program that's offered by the same school I earned my BSN, and it looks like I can swing that for about 12 credits. However, I'm now a wiser consumer, and I'm concerned about investing the time and money on a school nurse certification if school districts won't take me seriously because I've never done my time in a hospital.

Thoughts?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Look at the job listings. In NJ most are substitute positions and they replace from sub list. To be a sub school nurse must be an RN with DoE fingerprint clearance and a substitute nurse cert from the county board of education (just like a substitute teacher). To be a full time must be BSN plus certified with post bacc credits in school nursing. If a teacher you may have an easy time dual certifying in NJ as a nurse/health teacher.

You need to read the job descriptions. Some small districts pay $65-70/day for substitute nurses others pay $100. The lower pay are less choosy about applicants since very few willing to work for peanuts.

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Thread moved to School Nurses forum.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

I went into school nursing right after nursing school. I started by getting on a sub list and that sub experience helped me land a full-time job. As someone stated above, knowing your state's specifics for school nurses helps.

Private schools may require less credentials, but may also pay less. Read the job description, everyone can be different. Subbing is valuable experience I cannot say enough about (though you may work for peanuts is the truth!). Schoolspring.com can be a good place to search for jobs; you can search by state and lots of school nursing positions use that site. Also check out the websites of local schools and school districts.

[Farawyn]

You don't need certification in NY, but the pay is low. I don't have my BSN. I got hired because of my experience and sparkling personality!

Good luck! Check back in when you get something!

[HazelLPN, LPN]

I am old fashioned, but I believe that school nurses should have acute care experience. The reason is that there is a great deal of autonomy in school nursing, and we have more medically fragile students now than ever. The school nurse must have excellent assessment skills. Nearly all of the school nurses in my district spent time in the hospital setting before changing direction and becoming school nurses. There is actually a high percentage who are former critical care and ER nurses and one of our nurses was a flight nurse in the military. I routinely take care of kids on vents, with G tubes, and have complex medical issues. As a retired PICU nurse, this is not a challenge for me.

The state where I work requires school RNs to have their BSN and a license from the state department of education to practice as a school RN. They are on the same pay scale and have the same benefits as the teachers and have their own bargaining unit within the teachers union. I am a substitute assistant school nurse, mainly working with special needs, multiple handicapped, and medically fragile students that the regular school RN simply wouldn't have time to care for. I'm an LPN, and the pay is so low that I consider myself to be a volunteer, but I don't do the job for the money. I do it because I wanted to come out of retirement and this was the perfect vehicle to do it as its not nearly as physically demanding as working in the hospital, yet I'm still able to help young people and remain in nursing at an age where many people have stopped living altogether.

Peds would be an ideal preparation for school nursing. Come to think about it, with all of the issues that our school RNs deal with, psych and OB nursing would be good too!

Best to you,

Mrs H.

[rbytsdy]

I'm in NJ and became a school nurse with a minimal amount of med surg experience. Hospital jobs are tough to find. I'm in a small district that has a hard time keeping nurses. We have 2 subs. It took us 5 months to fill a position. Look into subbing! Also look at smaller or "less desirable" districts. There are quite a few jobs available. Join NASN. They have local forums with job postings.

[rbytsdy]

Oh, and I started out working with an emergency cert until I completed my CSN courses.

[kidzcare]

I have never worked in a hospital. All my previous experience was at a nursing/rehab center (that I still work at on weekends). I have been in the school for 4 years.

[NanaPoo]

I had 3 years of med-surg then TWELVE years of hospice before subbing at my daughter's school as the school nurse.

Things fell through for the full-time school nurse there and the administration must've really liked me because, after I finished out the school year for that nurse (6 weeks left in the school year), they hired me full-time. I did have to go through the full interview process against other candidates but I'd had those 6 weeks and the sub time to show what I could do.

[lifelearningrn, BSN, RN]

I worked skilled nursing and hospice for a year before landing my school nurse position. The district was HUGE on having at least 1 year working as an RN, and they prefer acute care experience, but they do make exceptions. It's really a matter of state and district requirements.