School Nurse Interview Today

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I have been a nurse for about 5 years. I have worked on a med/surge floor as well as L/D. I also worked in an OB/GYN office as the triage RN. I have my associates in teaching since elementary education was my first major. I interview today for a school health RN position. I am not sure if I will be workibg directly in a school or if it is more of an "overseeing" type position. To be honest I am nervous. I have no pediatric or ER experience. I am very excited about the possibilities of this position and starting fresh in a completely new specialty. However, again I have no experience in pediatrics or ER. Can anyone offer advice, words of wisdom, or tips as far as what to expect in the interview or in general? Thank you!

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Good luck. You posted this twice, you must be nervous!

Play up what you DO have experience with in your 5 years and triage.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Express your desire to serve others out in the community in contrast to hospital-based nursing. As a school nurse it is your role to promote the good health of our kids so that they are in a better position to learn and become successful in life. I would play up on this concept!

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Sorry I'm using the app and its kind of confusing! I can't tell if my post went through haha

Thank you for the advice, I am enjoying reading all of the threads in the school nursing forum. Hopefully this works out.

Thanks again

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Specializes in School Nursing, Public Health, Home Care.

Let us know how the interview went and the outcome!

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The interview was very laid back, it was 2 women and they asked me the standard 10 questions on their print out. I honestly do not know what their take on me was. I have no experience, and this job is as a cluster nurse. So I will be overseeing the medical assistants and aids at about 3 schools. It's a lot of supervising, attending meetings, policies and procedures. I have to create care plans for teachers to follow for emergent situations. I guess I'm nervous because I have no experience with this type of job and I'll be functioning very independently.

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Are there any other nurses in the district? Will you have orientation with the outgoing nurse?

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Specializes in Community Health/School Nursing.

You will need to review school policies and procedures. Also, the emergency care plans are normally a generic template that you will customize for each child. School nursing is a totally different culture and atmosphere. You need to be able to make decisions on your own quickly in some situations and then stand by them. You are not only dealing with your nurses/aids but administration, students, parents, staff and other outside sources. You may feel overwhelmed at first but hang in there!

The NASN website is a great resource of information.

NASN - National Association of School Nurses - NASN.org

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Thank you everyone!

That was a question I asked. Will I have other nurses/peers to use as resources and go to for help or advice? They told me you're physically alone but help is a phone call away and there is a number of nurses in a group.

I would be in orientation which I am assuming is working alongside someone like shadowing. They said orientation lasts as long as you need it to (within reason). There is a lot of delegating, and I would have to travel to my schools to administer insulin if needed. I am crossing my fingers. I really feel I can make a career out of this and not just a job or shift work.

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Specializes in Community Health/School Nursing.
Thank you everyone!

That was a question I asked. Will I have other nurses/peers to use as resources and go to for help or advice? They told me you're physically alone but help is a phone call away and there is a number of nurses in a group.

I would be in orientation which I am assuming is working alongside someone like shadowing. They said orientation lasts as long as you need it to (within reason). There is a lot of delegating, and I would have to travel to my schools to administer insulin if needed. I am crossing my fingers. I really feel I can make a career out of this and not just a job or shift work.

Review the legal rights of Diabetics within the schools. It will be important to know. :-)

http://web.diabetes.org/Advocacy/legalmaterials/LegalRights/LR-StudentswithDiabetes.pdf

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Specializes in kids.
There is a lot of delegating, and I would have to travel to my schools to administer insulin if needed. I am crossing my fingers. I really feel I can make a career out of this and not just a job or shift work.

Just be sure you are aware of YOUR states Nurse Practice Pact re delegation (and all the general administrative rules -immunization requirements etc)

Best of luck!

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