Perks

There is a lot more to being a school nurse than putting on band-aids and doing lice checks. I spend much of my time counseling with students regarding healthy habits. I case manage students with health concerns. There is always mountains of paperwork to be done. It is a very autonomous job and, despite what some may think, can be quite challenging. The challenge comes from being the only medical professional in the building and you are on your own to use your judgment and assessment skills to make sound decisions. But there are perks. On occasion you are asked to do things that are pretty unrelated to nursing. Sometimes, you are asked to sub for the health/fitness teacher and you get to spend the afternoon teaching 4 square to 1st graders. And then other times, you get to accompany the 4th graders on their Outdoor Adventure fieldtrip and spend most of the time just hiking and participating in the different learning stations. Awesome. Soon summer will be here and it will give me time to re-charge my "school nurse" battery and then I'll be ready again for next fall and all that it brings--challenges and perks, alike.