School nurses - how to get started

Farawyn · Sep 9, 2016

Hi. I've been working in critical care nursing for the past five years and I'm experience a great deal of burnout right now. I'm trying to find out more about other areas of nursing since our field is so broad. One thing I'm interested in is school nursing. I did a community health clinical in nursing school where I was basically the school nurse at a school that did not have the resources to hire an actual school nurse and I absolutely loved it even though I thought I would hate it. I'm curious if any of the school nurses on here could tell me about what their day to day tasks are like, weekly schedule/hours, responsibilities, how much work you have to bring home, etc. and how you like it. I am also wondering what steps you took to become qualified to be a school nurse as I don't know if I actually have the credentials for it or not. I know salaries vary all over the country, but if anyone knows what to expect in the Chicago area that would also be greatly appreciated. I'm worried I would have to take a big pay cut if I leave bedside nursing. Any input/suggestions you all have is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for your time!

Hi! SN here, and YES, there is a huge pay cut in NY- so much so that I had to take on a per diem HH job.

I don't bring home any work.

I love the kids. LOVE.

The hours cannot be beat.

There's more. I've requested that this thread be moved to the SN Forum where you can get more answers.

See ya over there.

Silverdragon102, BSN · Sep 9, 2016

Moved to the School Nursing forum

1mrsbs · Sep 9, 2016

Yes, you would take a huge pay cut, but your sanity & your back would thank you. :yes:

You can't beat the hours & the days off. Now that being said transitioning from 3 days a week to 5 is difficult but you will eventually get used to it. There is so much to school nursing. If you are in the lower levels you will deal with immunizations, boo-boo's, pee/poop pants, care plans, meetings for special education kids, daily medications, diabetics, asthmatics, etc. These are just a few things.

If you have special needs kids you could be taken care of trachs, tube feeds, diaper changing & other various duties that come with kids that have special needs.

In the upper grades you deal with all the above plus pregnancy, drugs, periods, smart mouths, & all those good things that come with dealing with teenagers. I prefer nothing higher than 5th grade for myself, but some nurses love the older kids & couldn't imagine dealing with the little ones. :yeah:

A good way to get started is start applying for any school nurse positions (substitute or permanent). I would think a school would love to have your type of experience on board. :woot:

I absolutely, positively LOVE what I do & could not imagine having another job, well to be honest, this is the only nursing job I have ever had. :saint:

Hopefully this gives you a little insight & I wish you the best of luck!!!

OldDude · Sep 9, 2016

Imagine being the lone staff member in an ER but with no advanced life saving equipment or drugs except an AED. Anything that would fall into that category is what you might deal with...alone. Don't think I'm complaining about that because if I had to work full time in any other nursing position I'd look for a job on one of those Bering Sea crab fishing boats like on deadliest catch.

KKEGS, MSN, RN · Sep 9, 2016

I worked in NICU for nearly 3 years and also experienced burnout so decided to give school nursing a try. This is my first year!

Qualifications and requirements vary from state to state. I'm in Minnesota and had to have both a public health nursing license as well as a school nurse license which I obtained through the Minnesota Department of Education. No extra education was needed. I just had to gather up documentation (transcripts, copies of my licenses, fingerprinting for a background check) and pay about $100.

As for day to day work it depends on the district. In my district I cover both an elementary school and a middle school (about 1400 kids total) but I am lucky enough to have a full time (wonderful!) health aide at each school. They are trained in both first aid and CPR so they do the handing out of bandaids and ice packs, administering the daily meds and keeping track of immunization compliance. I do more of what I would describe as case management. I develop emergency care plans (lots of kids with allergies requiring us to keep Benedryl and EpiPens at school, seizure disorders, diabetes, etc.), conduct vision and hearing screenings that are required by the state as well as for evaluations to determine eligibility for Special Education services, assess and advise about the more serious injuries/conditions (rashes, injured joints, head injuries, etc) and chase down information/answers for parents. Today I had to consult with the Department of Health to determine if a student with an E. coli infection could continue to come to school. Also any purely nursing services are my responsibility. I straight cath a 3rd grader every afternoon, for example. I also provide all training of staff on things like seizure safety, using EpiPens, etc. Every day is different, which I love!

As for hours: I work 40 hours, Monday through Friday. I spend my mornings at my middle school and my afternoons at my elementary school. I am free to come and go as I need. I love the independence and autonomy! It was difficult at first since I was used to a lot more structure at the hospital but I'm getting used to it. I sometimes work on stuff at home (especially at the beginning of the year which can be crazy busy) but it's by no means expected. Just me wanting to catch up or spend some more time on stuff since this is my first school year.

Feel free to keep asking questions! This board has been very supportive and gives great advice!