New school nurse here - previously worked in public health and a hospital ED.
I like the job, I like ruling my own roost, I like the kids (high school), the pay is OK and the hours are amazing...one thing I can't figure out is my coworkers, the teachers and aides.
Our district has a clear policy that work-related injuries are to be called to the occ health triage nurse, and then if needed the employee reports to the designated urgent care or ER. I was very firm about setting those limits from the beginning - nope, I'm not looking at your injury - and that part is now going OK.
Apart from that though, the teachers and aides are in here constantly....they want ibuprofen, they want me to look at a bug bite, they want an ace wrap, they have a cough and want to know if they should go home. For OTC meds I generally have an overabundance (we can only order large bottles; our school is small and meds generally expire before I can use them up), so I will say, "I don't give medical advice or recommend medications to coworkers per district policy, but if there's something in this cabinet that would be useful to you, you may take it."
I'm a pretty direct person. Asked to look at someone's stitches, I said, "You should call your surgeon if you have a concern; I don't want to give you bad information" Asked if I think a teacher should go home sick when she had a cough, I said, "That's up to you - you should do what you think is best. I'm not your boss and you don't need an excuse from me. I hope you feel better."
And yet....this continues. It just seems really weird to me. These folks have good insurance and it's hard to imagine how to express myself more clearly. Does this happen to you? What do you say??
