school nursing to office nursing?

[eshleman]

Hey all...

I'm currently an LPN working as what we call a "health room nurse" in my district. I've been doing it for two years now, since I graduated school and passed my boards. Due to district budget cuts and the like, there have been rumors floating around that some nursing positions will be eliminated for next year and I figured now would be a good time as any to start looking for a new job as I've been thinking about getting one anyway.

Well, on Tuesday (March 15th) I've got an interview for a family practice office and I'm sure they'll ask how my experience as a school nurse will help me out with transitioning into office nursing. Do any of you lovely nurses have any advice for me on how to answer that question- through personal experiences, or just ideas of your own? The only thing I can think of is that I'm familiar with the immunization schedules of the state...

Thanks!

-Deb

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Fast pace, prioritization, working with a broad age range (students, staff, siblings, etc), good teaching skills, communication skills, basic triage skills, recognizing a medical emergency...these are all skills that I think are common to both school nursing and office nursing (although I haven't worked as an office nurse, so it is partially based on assumptions). I would play up these attributes in the interview. Good luck, it sucks that the economy is hitting the schools so hard

[eshleman]

Thanks! I was thinking of those aspects as well but was having a hard time putting them into words- that happens with me a lot! I think I completely bombed an interview I had last week because I had a hard time putting thoughts into words and just hoping they could interperet what I was saying...

[LACA, BSN, LPN, RN]

I went the opposite direction....from MD office to school nursing....I agree with the above poster about the things that prepare you for an MD office from school nursing....it definitely helps you as far as the fast pace, need for organization, triage, what to do in emergencies, familiar with common s/s in children, knowing the immunization schedule and other things that are important when dealing with peds, dealing with parents and such is good for communication skills/customer service, also good for soothing "ruffled feathers" and avoiding conflict issues, etc. Sorry if this all kind of ran together, I was typing as I was thinking and I'm not always great at that!!