Don't twist things.
I didn't say that you weren't following your calling. I said that it's possible that some nurses have a calling to work in an educational environment. Even if they make $12 an hour. I said just because that is not your calling doesn't mean it's not someone else's.
I also didn't say that nurses aren't qualified to lead a 504 meeting. I said that they may not be the most appropriate to do so. But then again, in some schools, they may be the perfect person to do that. But it's not the case in mine. And hey--you were disparaging of school nurses on the first page.
Oh, you both are so overshooting the temperment of even a "good" school nurse. A certified one even. School nurses just don't "do" time sensitive emergent field work. If you're a nurse, and you do have both the temperment and skill set to handle emergent situations or continuously manage an unstable patient (and I DO mean in the healthcare sense of classification) then that's where you'll find work if your license is worth the watermark it's printed.) School nurse pay isn't A THIRD of what even the surliest barely english speaking import with reciprocity can earn in ER, Surgery, Cath Lab, or a Critical Care open heart unit. That and a school nurse is minimal daily hours and probably not five days a week even.
It's not their primary function. If it were, they'd have equipment on hand to start at least an iv.... But they don't. Nor will they ever. It's a trick bag. For a number of reasons.
but I digress.
what you're asking for is someone for whom it's second nature.
You're not going to get that when 99.9 % of their time their primary function is submitting eye exam paperwork or going over dental hygiene with kindergarteners.
{snipped stuff}
how do YOU know what my calling is? How do you think I know what school nurses make?
I've looked into it. I'm qualified to be a school nurse. If I wanted to be a Certified School Nurse, it would be a snap to get the cert. I have four children classified as special education, I have 16 years critical care experience, and 18 direct patitent care. CLEAN experience. My license is spotless. I know my way around the school system, and am METICULOUS with paperwork. Children and adolescents like me, I don't mind them, lol, I prioritize well, and can be autonomous in my care delivery. I know. my. boundaries. Both personal, and professional. That said, I'm a loner, don't give a bleep about politics in a community, and don't need the principals permission to do what my practice dictates is a necessity.
but
that pay. The culture. A calling isn't defined by how big a MARTYR I'm willing to make of myself. That pay tells me they DON'T CARE what quality person they receive in that application bin. I had this discussion with the middle school principal regarding the 8.00 an hour they were paying their EDUCATIONAL AIDES at the time. He said THE PAY was why they
couldn't get one that didn't have serious flaws in one way or another. Or, as I observed, didn't dress like they were the Saturday Night Special at a strip club, showed up Monday morning, or could spell ask as "ASK" instead of "AXE". We went through four that year, if I remember correctly. I settled on the person who couldn't spell or use grammar correctly in my son's communication notebook. (I still have it) She was a para professional. What the certification supposedly entails, I can only wonder. I settled on her because she seemed a bit more informed on using the epi pen, but I got burned. That was the woman who had a daughter with asthma, BUT, who ended up leaving my son to run the mile out in the cold, the day he returned from a 10 day absence post pneumonia.
I mean, YOU'D THINK people had more sense that that. You'd think she would have advocated for him as he VOMMITTED phlegm all over the field, YOU'D THINK she'd have advocated to the PE teacher for him, as his PERSONAL AIDE for a health care need to be seen by the nurse as he pleaded for an inhaler.
He ended up CALLING ME FROM THE FIELD asking me to talk some sense into these ADULTS on his behalf.
I better quit typing about that now, before I say something reprehensible about ALL involved. ABOUT THAT 8.00 an hour for EDUCATIONAL AIDES. But back to pay rates and getting quality people.
They erroneously THOUGHT requiring PARA PROFESSIONAL certification would change that, but it didn't. People took their certification elsewhere or said: "Oh, crap, that's not worth getting."
My friend was one of them. She decided her time was better invested in getting her TEACHING degree. (and she has a para professional certification and ROCKS at what she does).
FIELD RETENTION. It's not going to happen with sh***y pay.
Sure, we lucked out in Fourth grade with a teacher in training who was on the eve of being hired as a teacher in the fall. But you shouldn't have to "LUCK OUT" in who is your child's aide, right?
But that, apparently is the STATUS QUO in the field of SCHOOL nursing. You're damned right.
I was disparaging. There's not a day that goes by where I don't hear a nurse, myself or others, who question an order, advocate for their patient in order to deliver appropriate care, get the training they need, the HELP they need, research something to see if it is within their scope of care, or read some kind of educational offering on our break room board that is MANDATORY. My home mail box even. It's constantly evolving, and as I can see, there are serious FLAWS pertaining to how the field of school nursing is preparing individuals to serve the population. Particularly in how they manage children with a higher acuity of care. Particularly in that I've had more than one school nurse refer me to NON MEDICALLY TRAINED individuals, ie: their "boss", as to what THE NURSES ROLE was in the DIRECT CARE my child receive for a health related need.
Speaking professionally?
THAT'S BIZZARRE. It doesn't matter WHAT FIELD of nursing you're in. Or at least it shouldn't.
It speaks to why a nurse SHOULD have specific experience that TEMPERS their judgement prior to turning them loose, ON THEIR OWN, in a field where they will rarely have ANYONE else who is SIMILARLY EDUCATED on hand to COLLABERATE with.
It's what lawsuits are predicated on. :
What another similarly trained, experienced individual with the same education would do. And dears, until those
demographics CHANGE, until THAT CRITERIA moves towards the other end of the spectrum, BY WHATEVER FORCES INFLUENCE IT....then DON'T think the system is going to change because <SCOFF>
more children with a food allergy are in school, or <SCOFF> they give the nurse an epi pen to use at will. That just means you might be even more greatly dissapointed.
they could give me laser knife, turn me loose in a surgical suite, but it doesn't make me a brain surgeon.
And like I said. Four children, ten years moving them through special education, 18 years direct patient care, 16 in critical care, 12 in trauma. Hell, waitressing. I'm a
people person. The director of special education of the entire cooperative has referred to me in direct meeting as a "knowledgeable individual" not only wrt to my child's needs, but wrt to the special educational process, and in MY FIELD which, btw, is THE TITS as far as classifying my scope of professional experience.
I know what I speak of. School nursing is a prehistoric beast, obsenely sheltered by politics and a pervasive lack of initiative, and something has to give....unfortunately, we continually have examples on a regular basis of what that is:
A child's life. While there are token changes, things that seems to garner publicity, there certainly doesn't seem to be the rate of change that is necessary, let alone the adjuncts necessary to implement those changes, and AAMOF, cutbacks still seem to threaten the mere existence of a nurse on a regular basis in a school building.
The presence of an epi pen in the school nurse office as defined by recent legislation isn't going to keep a nurse on full time in everyschool building, any more than having AED's in schools did, let alone an experienced one with the ability to function in a crisis adequately.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/05/school-nurses-budget-cuts_n_845053.htmlIf money and associated personal risk wasn't an influence on CALLINGS then EVERY SCHOOL BUILDING WOULD HAVE AN
RN IN THEM ALL DAY, EACH DAY, EVERY DAY, who was a
VOLUNTEER. 
And you.....I remember you complaining about not feeling 100% about the job you were taking. But you took it. Why? Oh, survival, probably. Turned out pretty well from what I've read. It will turn out great again. Remember that when you apply. It's what you make of it. My CALLING is to be good at what I do. I never imagined myself doing what I do today, but to a point, it defines me now. With that knowledge, I'd proceed to another opportunity, if I had to. I could turn waitressing into a CALLING if I had to. I did at one point.
Topic: Another Richmond-area School Reaction (Read 9854 times)
