No School Nurse is an Island
School nursing is a great field. It offers many opportunities. But at the same time, it can provide many challenges due to the autonomous nature of the position. When nurses work in other traditional healthcare settings such as hospitals, clinics, etc., it can be very easy to grab a colleague if you need a second opinion. I once knew a nurse whose favorite phrase was, “I don’t know what’s wrong, but this isn’t right.” As a nurse working at Horizon Healthcare Staffing, it is important to remember that while you may be working in an isolated environment, you are definitely not alone. Yes, you may be the only medical professional in the building – but to quote a popular TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, “phone a friend.” Horizon Healthcare Staffing has 9 nurses on staff in-house. They are available to help answer any medical questions you may have, especially if you feel something isn’t right.
As part of any given day, a school nurse, they may be expected to administer daily medication. There have been situations that have arisen, where the school nurse does not have the medication to administer. In today’s economy families may have to sacrifice medication for heat, food or the clothing on their backs. In this situation the school nurse is not alone. Yes it is very easy to document “not available” on an MAR; however we all know that’s not good medical practice. We are these children’s advocate – we are their protectors. To quote the poet John Donne, “No man is an island,” and that is definitely true of any school nurse that works at Horizon Healthcare Staffing.
It is every nurse’s responsibility to make sure that doctors’ orders and medication are reconciled and are a perfect match. If the medications are not available, we need to make the parent and the physician aware. One can only fathom at what the ramifications are of missing one dose, or 2, or possibly a week or more of medication. When does the principal become aware, the social worker, or the Horizon nursing supervisors? These are all questions that school nurses shouldn’t answer alone – It is important to realize you are not alone. Horizon is there for you and is willing to do all it can to help lighten the load, to do this we have to know what is going on. By working as a team we can provide the best medical care available for today’s school students.
