is school nursing a good specialty?

[kristen312]

Hi all,

I am graduating from a well respected ADN program in my area in May, and planning on working in a hospital, ltc, or wherever hires me until I get my online BSN. I always wanted to be a teacher, or nurse. My mother is a teacher and the way certain schools, and the state, have treated teachers really has turned me off of teaching. I love healthcare, so nursing it is! Is the pay okay? Do you need more than a BSN? Does anyone regret their decision to work in a school? It honestly sounds like the perfect job for me - I know how schools work via my mother and spending so much time in her classroom and her colleagues when I was younger - and the hours seem perfect! Plus, unlike teachers, you don't have to spend countless unpaid hours grading papers and creating lesson plans! Plus, I feel like school nurses may work more with the community, which sounds awesome to me.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Depends on the state, in my state only RN and background check for state DoE is required to sub plus board of ed approval. For a regular staff school nurse must be a RN/BSN with post bac cert as a school nurse. Most go for MSN as only a few credit difference. You can be certified as a school nurse or school nurse plus teacher of health by the DoE

[SassyTachyRN]

There's a thread somewhere on here about pay too. That varies a lot by state. My pay is ok, not what my friends are making in the hospital, but it has it's trade offs. I get paid salary year round so I get paid during breaks, I never have to work a holiday, weekend or night shift. Best of all: summers off.

I will say, like teachers, at least in the beginning of the year... I bring home tons of paperwork that I'm slaving away on and not getting paid for. I'm going through health histories and making care plans, compiling immunization records and such like a mad woman for the first month or so. Sometimes the day is non stop kids and there's no time for anything else and you have to take work home just like teachers.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

Best job I have ever had!

[Nurse ABC]

It's ok. I'm sure you will find lots of answers on school nurse forum if you look back. The pay is usually teacher pay (much less than hospital). The trade off is better hours, summers off, no holidays or weekends, etc. We do have a lot of after hours work at the beginning of the year but then it calms down. Some days though you just don't have time to chart until school is over. Our state requires a BSN plus a school nurse certification. I do sometimes regret leaving the hospital and all the different options of part-time work, different specialties, career growth, etc. You will find less politics I think and that the board of education cares more abt you than the hospital ,however, I also feel school nurses don't get as much respect by teachers as the hospital staff. Reason being, they just don't see or understand us. A kid walks into our office having trouble breathing and we are immediately assessing the situation just by looking at color of lips, can they talk, how fast are they breathing, are they wheezing, is it an allergic reaction or asthma, etc but all a teacher sees is that we just pulled an inhaler out of the cabinet and gave it to the kid-so easy. Then they don't see all our charting to cover ourselves (after all they don't have to) or the care plans, Medicaid billing, etc. I get really offended when teachers tell me I have a cushy job. I also really feel left out because there is no other nurses I work directly with-just teachers and they are cliquish. I usually become friends with the special Ed teachers-they usually understand what we do better and have more respect for us. Oh and the secretaries usually love the nurse because if we aren't there then they have to deal with the sick kids.

[100kids, BSN, RN]

I love School Nursing and it's a great career for people BUT I think people often get the wrong idea about what it entails. I definitely don't have it better than the teachers (at least not where I am). Here I am paid much less than the teachers and I am not in a union so my raises are hard fought for by me every year and quite honestly they're not good.

Everyone here wants me here and loves what I do BUT I definitely am seen as beneath the teachers because everyone here is all about education. I am placed in the group with the secretaries, custodial staff, and other non instructional staff. Whenever they don't know who to have do something it gets thrown on my desk. I am the Nurse, mom, social worker, attendance monitor, clothes mender, counselor, eye glass fixer, bathroom monitor and more. You'd be amazed at all the jobs I have done or covered in this school. I spend many unpaid hours getting my paperwork done, chasing parents for physicals, filing state immunization reports, planning health lessons, planning in-services for staff, answering parent and staff questions regarding every illness or medical complaint under the sun and preparing memos to go home about whichever possible outbreak or disease the nightly news program chooses to get parents riled up about. Most days I get to eat lunch but that's only because I put my foot down to get them not to interrupt me for every scratch, paper cut or headache. I still some days get a call that a child needs a Band-Aid during my unpaid 30 min lunch.

I am the only health professional in the building and district so that means I am solely responsible for all the health related decisions. In an emergency I am it and to be a School Nurse you have to be ok with that. There is no team with you and you have to know what to do and be confident enough to do it and get others to do what you need them to do. I am a BSN Nurse but the Bachelors in not required in my state. Personally I think EMT/ER training or experience would be most useful to a School Nurse before masters level nursing classes but that's just my opinion.

I love working with the kids-they all know me and love me and that makes this the best job for me. I love the feeling that I have helped a child or a family and I love that I form strong relationships with all of the families over the years they are in my school. My administration knows I deserve a lot more money but it never materializes on the table because it's just not there. I am hopeful this might change someday but also realistic and know that it probably never will.

This is the best fit for me as a Nurse but I always want people going into this career to consider it wisely and with their eyes open. Ask School Nurses in the areas you are considering how they feel, how they are treated, how much work they have after hours and how well they are compensated. Most people outside School Nursing will probably always think it's all band-aids and ice packs and that I just sit at my desk waiting for kids to come in but those that have done it know there is so much more. Each day is different than the one before it and I am never bored but some days I am outright exhausted after 7 hours.

All in all it's a hard job but there's no other job I'd rather go to tomorrow instead of coming back here...