Did you replace a school nurse?

Specialties School

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Did you replace a school nurse when you started your school nursing job? If so, how many years had she been there when you came on board? If you replaced a "he - school nurse" you can correct me.

The nurse I replaced was there for 27 years. Our head nurse retired after 36 years in our district as a school nurse.

I am the founding school nurse at my school as I was hired when my school opened three years ago. It has actually been really nice not trying to fill anyone's shoes and doing things the best way for me. That being said, it was hard not knowing anything about District and State regs and having no one to ask. I only discovered this site after my first full year- it has been a HUGE help :)

Specializes in School nursing.

I am the first full time nurse at my school. Prior to me was a short term RN that work 80% time for one year and prior to that that they had an LPN there for several years that worked 60% of time (and I was told was not great). None of them kept great records and it took me a couple of years to finally comb through some OLD paperwork.

The nurse before me was here for about 7 years but when she left they had subs for about 2 months before they found me. We are a 1 building district so I was on my own from day 1 which was very interesting. At the end of year 1 I went through every cabinet, closet, shelf and drawer in my office and got rid of so much stuff! There were old books discussing the "mentally retarded", feminine product boxes advertising "no belt needed" and lots of other out of date goodies to be found. We had a lot of laughs when I was going through everything!

Specializes in School Nursing.

Yes and NO. I was the district's first LVN hire. The RN school nurse was in/out of the district working for last 15 years or so. It was a confusing time for me (being my first LVN job) and the district with me being the first LVN. I had a clear outline given to me by the district about my job details, and duties. It was pretty clear, but I did have admin challenge me my first year. Talk about scary situation. Been here going on 5 school years now.

Specializes in School Nursing, Pediatrics.

Yes I did replace a nurse. Before coming to this school (same district) the nurse was there for about 4 years, and then before that the nurse was there like 20 years...and let me tell you..they kept EVERYTHING! I went thru and got rid of a TON of stuff (papers, cassette tapes, old expired meds, old yellowed bandaids, old equipment that didnt even work, stuff I had no idea what it was..etc...). Now that I came to this school, I am doing the same thing AGAIN! Do nurses not throw anything away??!! LOL

I hate clutter and hoarding, so I tend to throw everything out, it drives my husband crazy because we always have like 10 bags of trash a week! LOL

I just started my school nurse job in January after 18 years in the cardiac cath lab. Whew!! What a change! The nurse I followed had everything from 1982 and on! Needless to say, there has been a lot of trash bags used!

I, like you felt so overwhelmed! Thank goodness my central office has been AMAZING and has helped me so much. Now my problem is that the old nurse was so out of touch with nursing and there are so many things done incorrectly. I spend all my time trying to fix her mistakes.

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