should i be a school nurse

Ask yourself, did you enjoy working with older sick patients? Would you prefer taking care of the young population in an independent setting? There are many differences- as you know- from working in a hospital vs. a school, adult vs. child. Salary is another difference. Can you take a pay cut? There are perks to working as a school nurse that working on your telemetry floor doesn't have. More vacation time with summers off, independece and I'm sure less stress.

What are your thoughts?

I love school nursing, but I have only ever worked pediatrics. I think the biggest difference for me in school nursing vs hospital nursing is that in school nursing you really have to be a self motivator. You decide what needs done when, for me anyway I did not have any training. I was shown my office and told good luck. As the only school nurse for the entire school district I can decide what programs I want to implement and what I want to spend my time on. It is wonderful and extremely challenging all at the same time.

The down side is that the pay stinks! But I guess not having to work any holiday and having the summer off really helps balance out the bad pay.

Good luck to you!

Can you shadow first? How large is the all K setting ? What kind of orientation and mentoring would you have? What is the EMS response time? How far away is the nearest school nurse if you needed help?

In my kids' school district, the Kindergarten center was 1000 kids and had a minimum 25 minute EMS response time. I think a school of that size with 911 response that sluggish would be too much for someone without pediatric experience and who does not have assessment skills for an age group who cannot articulate clearly what is bothering them.