What do I need?

Guest717236 · May 16, 2011

Hi Everyone~ I am an RN with 6 months of experience in L&D which I gained six years ago. The job I've had for the last 2.5 yrs is case mgt for a newborn screening program. If you were to give me advice about what I should have before applying for a school nurse position, what would you say? I'm asking for a list of specific skills. Thank you!

See if you can get experience in a busy Pedi practice. It will give you good experience,and skill acquisition along with the spectrum of health care for kids/adolescents. Its fast paced and will get you up to speed on what to expect.

When you are the school nurse, you will be often referring students out to their MDs. In a school setting you often work alone, as opposed to a doctors office, but your nurse peers at other schools are a resource for you.

Lots of school nurses cover more than one school in the course of the day-

ie middle school and elementary so you need to interact with many age groups.

Check to see if your state requires a school nurse certification (a state certificate as opposed to professional one.)

If so, start the courses.

See if you can shadow a few school nurses in your area for the specific skills and requirements.

Good luck and keep us posted...

ranna&nessas mom · May 17, 2011

Great ideas~ thank you very much for your suggestions!

bergren · May 26, 2011

My NICU and early childhood special ed experience has come in very handy. So you should be able to use the skills you learned in your newborn screening job .

Any amount of inpatient or outpatient peds is extremely healpful. Assessment skills are the hardest in kids who cannot tell you what hurts or how they feel. ER too.

Any experience in working with parents too.

Good luck!

mamalle · Jun 2, 2011

Being able to triage and handle alot of case management is what comes to my mind. We are required to have BLS and First Aid. I keep my ACLS and PALS up for my per diem job. Best of luck.. Im very happy I found school nursing after all of these years. I truly found my calling! Enjoy.