Teachers ??

I do feel respected. The teachers at my school, for the most part are great. There are a few, of course...

I feel like I am treated like an equal and respected. They don't really have any idea what I do and I don't think I could do their job! It took a few years, but we have a good relationship.

Overall I feel like they are glad I am at the school but I wouldn't say that I am respected. I think they feel better knowing in the event of an emergency that I am here. My first two years at one school I was talked down to and basically labeled the lice checker and butt wiper. But of course I was still expected to perform all of the other task they wanted to throw off on me. When I went to another school in the district I was very well received. I was treated with respect and they told me how happy they were that I was there. Now I am back at the first school. The talking down to me has stopped but I still do not feel respected at all. People where I live think school nurses just sit on their butts all day waiting on a kid to need something. I get told a lot "Why does the school even need a nurse." or "Man you got the gravy job dont you." Meanwhile I want to pull my hair out most days trying to get everything done being the only nurse for 3500 students spread across 8 campuses. So I think until that mentality changes then there will not be much respect.

Depends on the day, and the teacher.

I don't work in a school, but my two best friends are teachers. I actually met one of them on the job (I work in private duty and she's my patient's tutor that comes to the house!). I love teachers :)

No way in hell would I want their job though. We complain about paperwork as nurses, but theirs seems a million times worse.

It's kinda hard to say at this point, they do ask me for opinions and such but they have their little groups. I do talk to everyone, but I can tell the ones who don't like me. Especially after I threw truth bombs during my training presentation, sorry, but not sorry. There are some that I do like and talk well with.

Depends on the level of the school and if you travel among campuses. I find that the K-5 level of teachers can be the most challenging and the respect level is much more professional at the middle and high school levels. You must have very thick skin for this avenue of nursing. I just try to kill all with my kindness and win them over and never take anything personal because at the end of the day I am there for the students not to make friends and socialize. Sure it's nice when you connect with those you work with and create a friendship bond but there is an overall line in the sand with some teachers and other staff and it can be very unprofessional. I always lead with my medical judgement on what is best and leave it right there.

My teachers are awesome. They are very good at vetting students in the classroom. They respect my judgement and use me as a resource often. I am definitely an adjunct to the educational process, which is probably due to the fact that nurses are used to front line in hospitals and it is hard to be seen as an adjunct.

I am very lucky to be so supported and valued by teachers and admin. I had a couple issues with a specific teacher who was going outside her scope of practice and was medicating kids. It came from a good place and she really just did;t get that she couldn't just put Rx cream on an itchy kid without me seeing them, etc. But overall it has been great.

I had a hard first few months because there was a rotating door of nurses that came and left and the one who was here before that rotation started made a life threatening med error on a teacher. BUT my first 4 months were pretty much trial by fire, so I was given a lot of opportunities to prove myself to them. Now I have no question about the level of respect my teachers have for me. There are times when I feel like they think I can handle too much (like all of their personal health problems) but I love my job and my staff.

When I first started, I was the Nurse for two separate, but adjoining schools. The elementary school teachers were nothing short of "difficult" to work with. The middle school teachers were amazing. When they decided to hire another nurse, I was asked with school I wanted to stay with. I didn't even have to consider it - the middle school! While my administrators were not supportive, the staff there were the best I've ever worked with as a Nurse!