Juggling and Delegation

1,978 students. That is how many students attend the 3 schools that I cover. I am grateful that not all 1,978 have medical problems that require my daily attention. But there are more than a few who do require a trip to the office at least once a day. This is where the juggling comes in. There is at least 1 student in each school that I should be seeing at least once a day. So my work life is scheduled to the minute. I know just how long it takes me to drive between schools. I have become very good at phone triage and troubleshooting so that I do not have to leave one school unexpectedly. (side note...I will leave one school and travel to another school if it is necessary. Unfortunately, this often requires me to reschedule and flex with the situation. Fortunately, I work with very patient and understanding staff members.) But at times the juggling just doesn't work. I physically cannot be in more than one place at one time. When that happens, I have to delegate. I have to delegate nursing tasks to the secretaries. I don't like that I have to delegate. I would much rather I be the one who is dispensing medication. I want to be the one who is helping the students with diabetes monitor their blood sugars, watch them give their insulin, teach them about counting carbs, etc. I want to be the one who is caring for the sick child in the health room. I want to be the one who helps a student suffering an asthma attack relax enough to effectively use his inhaler. I want to be in a building full-time so that I can help a child who is coming out of a seizure. I want to be there so I don't have to find out about all the scary things that happened while I was at another school. I want to be all of those things. But I can't. I'm spread too thin. I have to rely on the secretaries to do those nursing tasks that the legislature has deemed appropriate for delegation. I am blessed to work with good secretaries who take on this huge responsibility. But I hate that they have to.