The start of every school year is always busy and stressful. I have grown accustomed to the fact, that in spite of my many reminder calls in August, parents will not have their children's paperwork--paperwork that directs the care plans I must write so the child's teacher will know how to best care for them--until the last possible moment. Usually the night before school starts. I can always plan on being at the school (or schools) until 10 o'clock p.m. the night before school starts working in a mad fury to get those care plans done. And yes, I do find this irritating but I've learned to deal with it.
But this year I was just plain pissed off all of last week. I wasn't sure why this year was so much worse. The parents were still the same. Their habit of turning in paperwork late was still the same. I didn't really have any reason to be so mad. But there I was all last week, sour-faced and mad, mad, mad. On Sunday I finally put my finger on the reason behind the irritation. And even though the situation has not been resolved, identifying the problem allowed me to wake up happy, happy, happy about going to work today.
So what was the problem? See, here's the thing. I get very little to no validation about my job and performance. My only validation is knowing that I am considered the medical expert in the building(s) and that I give good, medically-safe advice. So I find it highly offensive when in the name of appeasing parents, my advice (advice that follows district policy) is not only summarily dismissed but completely undermined. When things like this happen, particularly at the beginning of the school year when I am working my butt off, it pisses me off and makes me question why I am even necessary. Fortunately, I have a strong lead nurse who totally validated the advice I was giving and worked to help rectify the situation.
I'm still not sure if the situation is completely resolved, but I feel better for identifying the problem and talking with someone who could help run interference and fix the problem.
Happy, happy, happy.
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