trying to get up to speed for school

[TiddlywinksMom]

I've been out of nursing for quite a while, and now an planning to start working again as a school nurse. I have a BSN, which is all that is required in my area. But my clinical backgroung is very weak - a year of psych, a year in an SNF, a smattering of med-surg, and, other than a brief stint 1:1 with a DD child who needed suctioning in school, no peds. So I'm working on getting myself up to speed as follows:

1. Study all the online imfo I can find about illnesses (asthma, seizures, diabetes, sickle cell, ADHD) and problems I'm likely to encounter in the school setting (and pick up whtatever CE credits I can in the process).

2. Also books on school and pediatric nursing and maybe others - meds references, physical assessment guides, etc.

3. I have a job as a camp nurse for the summer - I'm studying up on that too. There will be another nurse working with me so that will help.

4. Volunteer in a school nurse's office.

But I'm still afraid that I'll find myself alone in the school health office - and I won't know what I'm doing. I feel like I've forgotten how to give an injection! Can I prepare myself sufficiently in this way? Any suggestions on other ways I can prepare?

Also, I am in NYC - Crown Heights, Brooklyn, to be precise. Are there any nurses out there who can tell me what the working conditions are like here, particulary in the regular public schools (not 12 month special ed programs). Do you cover more than one school? How many students are you responsible for? Do you have your own office? Are you ridiculously busy, or is the workload comfortable if you're well organized?

And finally, could there be anyone out there working in a school not too far from Crown Heights who would like to have an eager assistant (me) helping out in her/his office a couple of times a week, and trying to learn as much as possible in the process? Trying to get through to the principal of my local public school feels like something out of Kafka - any pointers?

[WalkingInTheRain]

This might sound weird but, you might want to try to maybe Jobshadow a school nurse. At a community university they might offer classes in refreshment of nursing maybe you should look into it. Good luck and hang in there :)

[TiddlywinksMom]

This might sound weird but, you might want to try to maybe Jobshadow a school nurse. At a community university they might offer classes in refreshment of nursing maybe you should look into it. Good luck and hang in there :)

No, doesn't sound weird at all - it's sort of along the same lines as volunteering - I'm working on it. I've looked into refresher courses too, and it's a possibility for next year if I'haven't found a school placement yet, although the focus wouldn't be on peds or school nursing, and they're not cheap. I think I would go the online route, although then I'd have to arrange for clinical on my own. Thanks for the reply!