stay in school nursing or not??

[rural_nurse]

hi everyone. i have been a school nurse for 9 years. the first 6 years i was strictly the school nurse. in the last 3 years, due to budget cuts and everything else, i am now the elementary secretary plus the school nurse for pre-k-12th grade (appox 320 kids). i love my job both as secretary and school nurse. my daughters are 8th and 10th grade so the hours are great with their sports. i know i will stay here until my girls are graduated but i just feel like sometimes i don't even feel like a nurse. what happens if i do want to go back to hospital nursing...am i even "qualified" anymore.

maybe i am just having a bad day..

thanks for any advice.

terri

[Flare, ASN, BSN]

sure, you're qualified! Granted, you may need a bit of a refresher for the things that you haven't done on a regular basis, but it doesn't make you less of a nurse.

In fact i applied for a staff nurse position at a local hospital about a year ago and was instead given a per diem job as an adn. ok.. still not totally flexing all of my bedside skills, but let me tell you, it's like riding a bike - i have to respond to all codes and trust me - it all comes rushing back!

It sounds like you enjoy your school nurse job. Don't let that go! Job satisfaction is a valuable thing in and of itself!

If you are feeling the need for a little clinical challenge, maybe you should consider picking up a little per diem work to keep your skills sharp or maybe volunteer with a first aid squad near by - sure ems and nursing are different things, but where they do over lap may fill that void.

[rural_nurse]

thanks flare....you made me feel much better about myself