The Question I Get Asked The Most:

How Did You Get Started In School Nursing?

Honestly? 

It was luck that I got the call to work as a school nurse. I'd applied back in February 2015 on a whim when I was really really frustrated at my job at a local acute-care rehab center working 2nd shift as the only RN (recently graduated, not trained, stuck in low-pay, unpaid mandation, manipulated by older nurses...you get the idea...) in the whole building and I'd had it up to the eyeballs with them. 

"It's the last time I'm going to stay over for them! 3-1130 is enough, but to keep me until 8, and then want me back at 1 is completely unreasonable. I'm not doing it! They can't make me!" I fumed to my then-boyfriend. It was a snowy day in February when I sat down at my computer exhausted from being up all night. I started searching around for new nursing jobs. I didn't really want to do home care, but it was an option. 

Didn't want to do hospital nursing again, as that had been my first job and it had gone over horribly. The manager was a new-nurse eater who wanted to take you, chew you up, and spit you back out with a black spot on your nursing record bigger than your name and the length of time you had your license! I was TERRIFIED to go back to hospital nursing. I had nightmares about working in a hospital because of that woman. 

So, I was looking at options. I couldn't teach as a nursing instructor because I didn't have enough experience. 

And then I found it. Some random website that posted a ton of school nurse jobs. Many were for schools that were called ESP, non public. This meant that a lot of the things these nurses did really--from my understanding--weren't regulated and policies really weren't formulated. Not good for someone with no experience. However, I was willing to take anything. 

So I started to apply. 

The thought then came to maybe applying to the public school systems around me, and my old high school, just in case (they were a charter school). 

I got a call back for an ESP school and then the public school system. 

The ESP school wanted me, but the principal of the school I'd work at never called me back. 

The public school system was slower. It took them until late July, early August to call me. I interviewed one day, the next I was offered the job, and then I was put into "New Teacher Academy" the next Monday for 3 days of intensive "training" as a "New Teacher." 

Though a flawed system, I was trained by the nursing director in some of the jobs I would be expected to do, some of which included medicaid billing, IEPs, IHP's, 504s, Medication Authorization forms, Emergency Medical Cards, Incident Reports, Electronic Charting through "Sunguard", Vision and Hearing Screenings, Immunization reviews for Kindergarten, 7th Grade, and New to District Students, Policies for the use of Emergency medications (including EpiPens), and our School Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) and how we were going to complete the School Health Index (SHI) from the CDC, as a part of our partnership through a local hospital chain in research to see if having one school nurse in every building of the district really made an impact in student's health and chronic disease management. 

Overwhelming, right? 

This also included getting our picture IDs, Policies and Procedures as a general public school employee, Insurance and Benefits, Payroll rules, Tax Information, etc. 

It was a long 3 days.

AND THEN THEY DROPPED THE BOMB. 

"You will need your School Nurse Certification." 

Now, this isn't some add-on to your nursing license, no. 

This is more schooling. That you have to pay for yourself. Because it's usually a certificate program. 

So my recommendation is to ask if you need a special certification to be a school nurse before starting. 

I'm currently in school to obtain my Masters in Nursing with my School Nurse Concentration from Wright State University, so I can get Financial Aid to cover my certification as well ;).