Tired of School Nursing?

Farawyn · Feb 13, 2018

The pay certainly is sucky.

I need the time now. I have a lot going on. I wouldn't trade it off at all.

Flare, ASN, BSN · Feb 13, 2018

i hear that - retirement is far off and not that far off all at the same time. Time to decide what i want to do when i grow up.

OldDude · Feb 13, 2018

You know how HH is...feast or famine. Let's hear from you next month when you're turning down visits!! I've traded off a lot of cool stuff I'd like to have for sitting on the beach during the summer while most of my nurse friends are still hammering away with 12 hours shifts, weekends, etc. Plus having kids in the district incorporates about a thousand eyes on them. I know what happens to them before they do!!

JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2018

I love my job. It is frustrating sometimes but never boring or slow at my slow. I am exhausted when I get home.

But I will love my job even more as I enjoy my week over for February vacation next week. I never worked in the hospital so I have never experienced the pay "downgrade" so-to-speak. And I worked in education prior to becoming a nurse and this education job is a pretty significant bump in pay from my previous ones.

lvnforschool · Feb 13, 2018

This job is not for everyone, and even though I am a social person I have learned you are alone quite a bit. I try to fill my days doing other things. I am an LVN so I take college classes online. This helps keep me busy on slow days. I honestly have days were YouTube or Netflix are my "friends" for the day. When I think about all the time off I get, Summer, easter vacation, winter break, thanksgiving, a week off in February, and Monday holidays its a total trade off im okay with. I also have retirement just building away, and for me to quit a job because its BORING, well that's just not a good enough reason.

Avill, BSN, RN · Feb 13, 2018

So true! I feel better now lol

Eleven011 · Feb 13, 2018

I do understand what you are saying, but honestly, its kind of nice to have a "boring" kind of job, when my home life (raising teen's) is often too exciting for me! And it really isn't all that boring - its just not "ER" exciting. And that just isn't my ball of wax anyway :)

And ya, the pay sucks. I work as the nurse supervisor at our local Assisted Living and pick up a few more hours in the summer. But there are more important things than money. And they aren't things :)

WineRN · Feb 13, 2018

But there are more important things than money. And they aren't things :)

This :)

But always feel free to vent away!

There are days when I feel like I am on a boat without paddles and days when I feel like a capable sea captain.

moreoreo · Feb 13, 2018

There are days when I feel like I am on a boat without paddles and days when I feel like a capable sea captain.

This is so true for me, too!

I remember the days when I was still overwhelmed with the problems of bedside nursing, feeling like I had no way out, when my husband suggested school nursing to me and I found this forum and read countless posts saying, "the worst day as a school nurse is still better than the best day as a bedside nurse." While there are aspects of bedside nursing that I miss, that statement has proven true for me in the year I've been at my school. Yes, our role is misunderstood, and a lot of the work we (or at least I--I'm not certified so I don't do IEPs and other "higher level" school nurse work) do can feel really trivial or at least COMPLETELY unrelated to our training, license, and education (lice, anyone? I die a little every time anyone acts like I am a lice expert, even though I have certainly educated myself on the subject). In the first few months I felt inundated and overworked. Nowadays there are days that I think, "wow, I saw 60 students but no one went home and no one really needed me" (knock on wood!). But I feel like there is more hope in the work I do here than there was in the hospital, I am more autonomous, and there is more room for me to grow.

Then again, my pay here is not that much less per hour than what I initially was making in the hospital. Plus I am starting a family so that makes the decision easier for me to work in this setting rather than one where I work holidays and weekends.

It's definitely a choice that has to be made and I can imagine it's not for everyone! I have thought many times that maybe I could find some place in some hospital that would work out for me, but overall I can't imagine choosing HCAPs, pain scales, unresponsive physicians, scripted bedside report, being shortstaffed, etc. over what I do now :)

Glitternurse, LVN · Feb 13, 2018

I've traded off a lot of cool stuff I'd like to have for sitting on the beach during the summer while most of my nurse friends are still hammering away with 12 hours shifts, weekends, etc. Plus having kids in the district incorporates about a thousand eyes on them. I know what happens to them before they do!!

Yep!!

Both my kids are in the district and everyone knows who mom is. Plus I have been able to pop over to their school to see them receive awards and give oral presentations, not always, but more than I could before. I'm usually gone for 15-20 minutes and if I'm needed back to my site I'm 5 minutes away or less, Plus I get to eat lunch with each of my daughters once a week. I'm new to school nursing, but I love it so far and I definitely get more time with my kids now than I ever did before.

nmr79 · Feb 14, 2018

You know how HH is...feast or famine. Let's hear from you next month when you're turning down visits!! I've traded off a lot of cool stuff I'd like to have for sitting on the beach during the summer while most of my nurse friends are still hammering away with 12 hours shifts, weekends, etc. Plus having kids in the district incorporates about a thousand eyes on them. I know what happens to them before they do!!

This, 1000x this.

Last summer I worked PM shift at a the hospital in addition to working summer camp (3 hours a day). It was miserable! I cannot wait to work my 3 hours a day and coast through the rest of summer. The peace of mind of being a mile away from my daughter's school (and knowing her school nurse really well), makes having a crappy salary okay.