Over the many years of writing The Relentless School Nurse blog, I have made it a priority to share perspectives from colleagues across the country. I didn’t have to look too far for this guest post, because Nicole DeBrango, RN, BSN, CSN is a New Jersey school nurse. I came across her post entitled, “School nursing? That’s an easy job,” on the NJ School Nursing Facebook page. I reached out to Nicole and invited her to write a guest blog and include the backstory of her perspective piece!
Here is Nicole’s response and the content of the original post that caught my eye, “School nursing? That’s an easy job”:
My name is Nicole DeBrango and I’m a New Jersey school nurse. I earned my BSN in 2012 and my school nurse certification in 2015. My experience as a nurse has included telemetry, subacute rehab, an inpatient psychiatric unit, and currently pediatric home care with Bayada. Working with children has always been my dream.
I was prompted to write this post for a few reasons. First, when people found out I was studying to be a school nurse and later, working as one, I received some surprising feedback. Comments such as, “You’re too young for that. That’s for older nurses who are ready to retire”, “School nursing is much easier than working in a hospital”, and “You’re gonna be bored” were not only discouraging but degrading as well.
My second reason is that I wanted the general public to understand a small part of what school nurses do and the enormous amount of responsibility on our shoulders. We are the only healthcare professionals in our buildings. We don’t have the convenience of a team of nurses and other colleagues close by to help us. A wealth of knowledge and the ability to make quick, effective decisions on our own requires skill and courage.
Lastly, I hoped to encourage my fellow school nurses who may be feeling burnt out, cynical, or questioning if it’s all worth it, to remember the difference we make in our schools and communities, to stand up and be proud of what we do, and to keep advocating for ourselves and all school nurses.
“Easy”, right?
Yours in school nursing,
Nicole DeBrango, RN, BSN, CSN
“School nursing? That’s a nice, easy job.”
- “Easy?” Sure, it is…..
- “Easy” to manage a caseload of hundreds of students,
- “Easy” to make sure I have the required paperwork for the students-mandatory vaccines, physical exams, doctor’s orders for medication for chronically ill students, permission slips for specific screenings, emergency contact information, sports physicals, etc. Then charting all of it in their profiles in the computer system we use.
- “Easy” to chase parents for months for the above-mentioned medical paperwork and to bring me their child’s life-saving medications.
- “Easy” to ensure I know every student with a chronic medical condition, their symptoms, and be ready to treat them immediately. Keeping students’ medications organized and frequently checking that they haven’t expired or are running low.
- “Easy” to find a few staff members willing to be trained in how to administer an EpiPen in an emergency. Hoping they feel confident doing so if and when the time comes.
- “Easy” to keep current on every aspect of pediatric nursing and public health. Things constantly change in the healthcare field and I have to continue to educate myself so I can do my job the best that I can.
- “Easy” to handle blood, vomit, and other body fluids.
- “Easy” to do a quick assessment and make the (hopefully) right decisions during an urgent or emergent situation. Praying that everything will be okay.
- “Easy” to do the attendance every day. Calling parents who haven’t reported their child absent. Scaring parents I call those whose child is marked absent but I’m told they were sent to school. Turns out they came in late and didn’t sign themselves in. Feeling relieved that it was an oversight and not a missing child situation.
- “Easy” to have difficult, uncomfortable conversations with parents about poor personal hygiene, lice, concerning symptoms their child is showing, too frequent visits to my office, and what it might mean.
- “Easy” to reassure a scared young girl who just got her period for the first time during class.
- “Easy” to triage students (and staff) with varying degrees of illness and injury.
- “Easy” to assess and treat an injury while questioning whether it’s minor or more serious. Not all injuries are obvious. Hoping that I didn’t dismiss a sprain or fracture.
- “Easy” to calm students who are crying (for various reasons) or having an anxiety or panic attack.
- “Easy” to watch instructional videos and read about what to do in an active shooter situation. Trying really hard not to think about it actually happening.
- There’s much more; this is just what I thought of off the top of my head.
- Please don’t tell a school nurse that their job is easy. We are responsible for the health and safety of your children.
- Despite the many challenges, we love this job and can’t imagine doing anything else.
