Subbing ?

hammergirl5 · Aug 13, 2010

Subbing is how I "got my foot in the door". I do however have 12 years of other nursing experience as well though! Check your states requirments for school nurses.

mustlovepoodles, RN · Aug 13, 2010

Personally, I think you need some acute care experience. In my experience, the time I spent in ER, NICU, and PICU has helped tremendously with my ability to identify a true emergency quickly. The thing about school nursing is that you really have to be ready for anything. All day long you might be seeing little kids with scrapes, minor stomachaches, loose teeth, and ADHD meds. And then your day can turn on a dime--a teacher has an anaphylactic reaction, a student has a seizure in the gym, the custodian has an episode of status asthmaticus, a kid slices his arm open on a jagged piece of metal in the bathroom,a parent has a heart attack in the principals office. You really need to be very confident in your skills because you will be the ONLY one there who has any medical training. For most nurses, the only tools in their emergency kit are bandaids, ice packs, a stethoscope, BP cuff, and 4-oz of Juicy Juice. Not much to run a code with.

I"m not trying to discourage you. I love being a school nurse. But then I have 34 years nursing experience, 25 of that in Peds. At this point in my career I can do this with one hand tied behind my back. I could not have had the nursing judgement as a fresh-outta-school RN that I have as a 53yo warrior nurse. Perhaps you could shadow a school nurse for a bit and find out what the job is really like. If school nursing is still what you want to do, then make a plan of how to get yourself from point A to point B, detouring through acute care on your way. Believe me, the first time your 5yo Spanish-only new diabetic pops a 32 on her meter, you'll be glad you did.

Bubbles · Aug 13, 2010

Agree totally with mustlovepoodles. I have a little experience filling in for school nurses via an agency. Plus one and one half years occupational health nursing via the same agency. Both are similar except for the age of your patients. With both having 10 years of ICU/CCU experience came in very handy. Yes, you might just be treating paper cuts and then you have a teacher with sky high hypertension or a teacher trying to have a heart attack or a student who was just beaten up and has possible head, neck, and chest injuries and only speaks Spanish. Definitely get some acute care experience before taking on school nursing.

Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN · Aug 19, 2010

I think it depends on you and what kind of support you have in your district. I did not have a lot of hospital experience when I started, and although the learning curve is steep, I did just fine. My keys to success: stellar assessment skills (if you are even a little unsure of yours, get some experience in a hospital setting first), and an angel of a mentor who was available anytime I had a question. I wore her ear out the first few weeks, and I still call her often (I am starting my 4th year).

My district hired a couple of brand new grads this year. I think they will be ok. We all have reached out to them and they have a ton of people they can call with problems, and our schools are close together so someone can always run over for a problem if needed. They are smart girls and I have faith they can do it.

So, I guess it can be done, but if you can stand it I would still recommend at least a year in the hospital before, just in case you ever want to go back into that setting.

KMcRN08 · Aug 23, 2010

Also, if possible with your nursing school schedule, try to sub as a teacher. I subbed on Fridays for grades K-8 while in nurisng school. It looked great on my resumes, as I had 3 years experience in the school setting PLUS hospital experience. It really gives you something to talk about in interviews, as you have seen both the educational and health sides of a school.