School nurse interview

[Urologynurse]

I could use some advice regarding a question that is on the application I am filling out for a part time school nurse position. The question states, “how would you address a wide range of issues in your groups?” I don’t have experience as a school nurse but I do have experience working with the pediatric patient in a PACU setting. Do you think this question is referring to who would you take care of first situation like acute vs chronic, stable vs unstable. Thanks!

[k1p1ssk, BSN, RN]

That is an odd question... are the rest of the questions health focused? This almost feels like it was accidentally copy & pasted from a teacher interview form referring to a group of students within a classroom (or a class cohort in the MS/HS level, where a teacher is going to see several different groups of kids in a day).

When I've been faced with things that seem out of place such as this, I do my best to reframe it in a way that makes sense for nursing. Talking about prioritization if faced with a "group" of students all presenting at once is definitely one good way to take this. You could also think about answering it as common diagnosis groups - your asthmatics, diabetics, adhd kids, allergy kids, etc. 

I'm not sure if that's helpful at all, but I hope you do well regardless!

[Urologynurse]

Thank you for your reply! The other questions don’t seem to be nurse specific so I did reframe them in a way that relates to nursing. In regards to the question asking how I would address a wide range of issues, I’m going to go with how I would prioritize the students needs if I was to have several in the office at once. Again thanks for your input!

[LHartnett01]

I have been a school nurse for a long time now and my interpretation of this question relates more to population variables than the actual nursing care. In the same school you may have middle class or well of families and new immigrants or homeless children. The latter will need more care and assistance to accomplish what they need to do. You may have to find resources for glasses or clothing. They may need some assistance in finding low cost medical care. They may not be allowed to leave their job to retrieve a sick child. I see the answer as being open minded and creative in meeting the needs of the families in a compassionate way. Consulting peers for resources is always helpful and can be part of the answer if you are new. Best wishes. It is more responsibility than most people expect. 

[Urologynurse]

Thank you for your response!