Thinking of becoming a school nurse!

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Hello! I have been a stay at home mom for the past 6 years and my youngest just started kindergarten. So this mom is ready to join the working world! I love kids and the idea of nursing, but was always concerned with the hours and missing out on time with my

kids. I really love the idea of school nursing, but I am kind of a vomit-phobe. Other then that, i think it actually sounds like a great job! And having the summers/breaks off with the kids would be a major plus. Also Monday-Friday, no weekends and off early. Any advice ?? I would love to have the relationship with the kids too. Thanks so much!! :)

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Specializes in RETIRED Cath Lab/Cardiology/Radiology.

Moved to Pre-Nursing Student forum.

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That would be an awesome nursing job the perks of being off with the kids would be a huge plus and convenience. I am also a SAHM ( I have a 6 and 1 yr. old) I'm a night owl so I plan to work nights somewhere if I make it into and through nursing school. I think being a school nurse is a great career if you can find an open position. :)

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Hi, and welcome to AN :)

I know school nurses who love (mostly lol) their jobs and no doubt you can read the Specialties forum here and find out what they think. I would suggest, though, before setting your sights on nursing school ONLY if you want to go into school nursing to consider something.

Your chosen field is a VERY popular choice for tons of mothers of young children, as well as those without children, for all the same reasons as you. Because of that, getting a job can be something of a Holy Grail search. Will you be ok with going through all that nursing school entails, the costs and the stress and the time, only to find that there is no way short of moving to some remote location that you can get a job as a school nurse? And if so, are you then ok with being say, a med-surge nurse in a hospital, or a nursing home nurse? Because nowadays it can be pretty tough to find a job in ANY nursing job let alone a popular one. And then there's the fact that while some jobs will be ok with you going in straight from graduation and having no experience, school nursing tends to be one of those jobs where the employer wants the selected choice to have a LOT of experience in handling the wide variations in chronic health problems today's schoolchildren can (and do) have: NG/PEG feeding tubes, mobility issues, insulin-dependent diabetics, tracheotomies, increasing incidents of mental health issues, youth pregnancies, and on and on. And you will only know how to work with a fraction of this by the time you graduate. And when you land that job, it's one nurse for the daily needs of hundreds of students (and sometimes entitled-feeling staff, as a friend of mine reminds me) and that one person is YOU.

Just stuff to think about as you're envisioning shiny bright children stopping in for bandaids on weekdays with summers off LOL!

The great thing about nursing is there are so many specialties you can find yourself working in. The down side is that you might not work in the ones you want, you might work in ones you DON'T want, and you should probably PLAN for not only that but working weekends, nights, evenings, holidays, and on-call for years (gaining valuable experience) before landing that dream job.

What do you think of all that?

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No thoughts at all??

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