What happens when the nurse is sick?

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Hey school nurses, I have a question.

What happens when you are sick? Does the school just not have a nurse that day (but then who gives kids their meds)? Are there substitute school nurses? How does that work? I can't imagine that a substitute school nurse would get called much unless they were in a large school district and subbed for the entire district.

Specializes in Pediatrics Retired.
I am the only nurse for my district. Right now I have a sinus infection and the doctor wanted me to be off until Monday. There are no subs for the nurse and I have a Type 1 diabetic...with no one else to give her insulin shots. Guess who is at work today? LOL

I think this is in the majority.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

Wow, thanks for all the responses! I'm currently unemployed and was wondering if subbing as a school nurse was an option to consider but it sounds like it would be very sporadic and tricky. Really interesting to hear how it works - that stinks to feel like you can't call in sick!

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Specializes in NCSN.
Wow, thanks for all the responses! I'm currently unemployed and was wondering if subbing as a school nurse was an option to consider but it sounds like it would be very sporadic and tricky. Really interesting to hear how it works - that stinks to feel like you can't call in sick!

If you can get into an agency it will be a little more consistent. That's what I did to dip my toes into school nursing and and I could have easily had a 30-40 hour work week, but I was still doing home health at the time, so I couldn't do that much

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Specializes in Home Health,Dialysis, MDS, School Nurse.
Wow, thanks for all the responses! I'm currently unemployed and was wondering if subbing as a school nurse was an option to consider but it sounds like it would be very sporadic and tricky. Really interesting to hear how it works - that stinks to feel like you can't call in sick!

Believe me, If I had a sub that I felt WANTED to work and that it wasn't a huge inconvenience to be called in, I would be using my sick time alot more!

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
If you can get into an agency it will be a little more consistent. That's what I did to dip my toes into school nursing and and I could have easily had a 30-40 hour work week, but I was still doing home health at the time, so I couldn't do that much

How did you find an agency? Would I look at the school district website? Indeed? Something else?

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Specializes in IMC, school nursing.
How did you find an agency? Would I look at the school district website? Indeed? Something else?

Call the staffing agencies in your area. They were VERY interested in my school nurse experience as opposed to being meh about my critical care experience.

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Specializes in Med-surg, school nursing..
How did you find an agency? Would I look at the school district website? Indeed? Something else?

I'm not sure about an agency but our district and a few other surrounding districts hire through the school system hiring website. One other district hires through their health department. If you live somewhere like a PP where there are 65 schools, I would think you would have a good opportunity to sub. I'm with Denise, if we had subs, I would take a mental health day or two here and there.

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Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.

Thanks for the tips, all! I'm gonna look into it.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

Depending on where you live, check with some of the larger school districts around you. A reliable sub is hard to come by, I bet you could stay really busy.

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Specializes in School nursing.

I started out as a sub in a large public school district. I worked A LOT. I ended up covering for over a month every single day one nurse who went out on medical leave. It helped me get my current job.

But the pay was very low. $120/day in that district, 6 hour day expected.

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Specializes in kids.
Thanks for the tips, all! I'm gonna look into it.

I have to tell you, I love your screen name!!

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Specializes in NCSN.

I found the agency I worked with on Indeed, but I know my district also posts them on their HR page and then we just redirect them to the agency we use.

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