Write With Me- The School Nurse Anthology

 Have you noticed the new tab on the 
Diary Of The School Nurse blog?

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip: Writing is an excellent way to share our personal school nurse stories and to help spread awareness about school nurse as a profession. I hope you consider sharing a meaningful story today! Click one of the above pictures to submit your heartfelt story and/or poem.

I have this elementary love for I AM poems and thought many of you might too.

I AM poems are easy enough to write, yet strong enough to be full of emotion.

Please accept this invitation to share your I AM poem with me. 

2020 has been quite the year and writing about your challenges, achievements, guilt, happiness, and/or sadness might be just the outlet you need 

(and didn't even know you needed!).

WRITE WITH ME

FREEBIES for The School Nurse

 Where can The School Nurse find FREE SAMPLES?

This post contains affiliate links.

CLICK HERE or VIEW BELOW

Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip: I am lucky to have a decent budget that covers needed items and a few wants. However, I still search out FREE SAMPLES to make my budget stretch even further.

How many school nurses do you know with an unlimited budget available for any and all nurse's office purchases?

Not many right!  Most school nurses have adequate budgets to cover the necessities, but there are many other items that might not be categorized as necessary but would certainly make student's school days easier.

Please share this blog post with other school nurse's so they can view the list too.

freebies for the school nurse

Also, if you have a free resource you'd like to add please post in the comment section or send details to theschoolnurse@diaryofaschoolnurse.com

Many thanks and I hope you find this freebie list helpful!

PS If anyone has a coupon for a free countertop nugget ice maker please let me know :) 

Check out The School Nurse Amazon Storefront lists too!

    

FREE- Medication Administration in the School Setting Training

School Nurse Training : Medication In Schools

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip: Many school nurses need to train unlicensed personnel to safely administer medications. Use this editable Google slide training to help you train your staff.

Do you have a medication training for staff?

Recently, I was asked if I had a school nurse product created for the purpose of medical training in the school setting. Surprisingly, I did not; not surprisingly, I decided to put something together!

This FREE training is primarily used by the school nurse who travels between schools and relies on unlicensed personnel to administer medications. However, it is 100% editable; so any school nurse can customize these training slides to work specifically for their situation.

This Google slide training is available for FREE via Teachers Pay Teachers.

There are 15 available Google slides ready for any school nurse to edit & use.

• Personalize this digital school nurse product to use with school personnel who need to be trained 
• Include school district specific information regarding medication policies & procedures. 
• Remember to discuss information on medication storage cabinets and med documentation

MEDICATION IN SCHOOLS : STAFF TRAINING SLIDE OVERVIEW

1. Statistics from the Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

2. Sample wording for medication guidelines in the school setting

3. Prescription & Over-The-Counter Medications

4. How to read a prescription medication label

5. A linked video teaching how to read a prescription bottle label

6. Storing medications in the school setting

7. Documentation for medications in the school setting

8. The 5 R's for safely administering medication in the school setting

9. Review

10. Printable certificate of completion

11. Available resources

12. Poison Control information 

13. Printable practice prescription labels 

          14. & 15.  Clickable resource pages 

You might find these medication resources helpful too-

School Nurse Digital Medication Forms

In addition to the free medication training, there are numerous other digital medication related items available for school nurses on Teachers Pay Teachers! Check out the entire collection here:

                                        

Medication Administration & Inventory Log  $3!

 

 

Moms Who Care

It Takes A Village

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip:  It truly does take a village!  My students, school families, and staff are bless beyond measure to have the wonderful non for profit volunteer group- Moms Who Care at our school on a weekly basis!  

Moms Who Care Mission

Their mission is simple- Their impact is huge!

Helping students achieve success by meeting essential needs such as:
clothing, hygiene products, school supplies, and after school snacks.

Are you a school nurse who:

• collects stacks of  clothes in your office cabinet "just in case"?
• keeps a hidden stash of school supplies for students who need them?
• keeps snacks for certain students you know will be hungry later in the day?
• desperately wants to help more students meet their essential needs, but feel like you don't have enough time in the day?

Those statements described me, The School Nurse, years & years ago!

Then, one crisp fall day in 2009, the future founder of Moms Who Care (MWC)

worked up some courage, called the high school and asked if there was a staff member who would be interested in receiving gift bags full of hygiene products for students?

Thankfully, whoever answered the phone that day transferred the call directly to the school nurse's office! Little did the caller know, the service she offered was highly needed and we immediately took her up on the generous offer; and so, our village started!

At the time (2009) of the call, I had a large wooden cabinet in my office with curtains hanging on tension rods covering shelves overflowing with clothes, shoes, socks, hygiene products & a few random snacks for students. You can see in the below picture how my office looked many days. The floor covered with random donations waiting to be sorted and put on the shelves. The shelves were hidden behind the checkered curtains on the bottom right of the photo.

Now (2020), after offering services for over a decade to thousands of students,

my school family has a committed group of volunteers with the MWC organization who have a large room in the school (with windows) full of clothing displayed on department store style fixtures with custom shelving units lined with shoes, hygiene products, snacks and school supplies! 

They also have a separate storage room for off season supplies with an area to sort through donations and organize items. All donations are graciously given by generous community members! To say my students are blessed is an understatement.

Although the logistics of the program have changed over the years, 

the Moms Who Care mission has remained the same.

To help students achieve success by meeting essential needs such as:
clothing, hygiene products, school supplies, and after school snacks. 

Typically, students who participate with the MWC program qualify for the free/reduced meal program. However, students are never turned away;

there are so many scenarios where a student might benefit from participating in the program and we would never want to deny help to a student who might benefit from the program.

Moms Who Care focuses on serving the student as a whole person.

The MWC volunteers understand when the basic needs of the student are met, 

then the students are more prepared and ready to learn.  Students who are signed up shop monthly by grade level.  They are also allowed to go down as needed for specific items even if it isn't their assigned week to "shop".

For More Information Visit the MWC Website here

To Purchase Items & Send Directly to MWC click here (not an affiliate link)

         

Sample School Nurse Interview Questions

I'm interviewing for a school nurse job!
Now What?

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CONGRATULATIONS!

You had the courage to apply for a school nurse position 

during this uncertain, exciting and challenging time. (pandemic 2020)

Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip: Being prepared for an interview is an interview skill. Use time to be as prepared as possible and help yourself stand out from the other applicants.

Of all the applicants-
 you received a call to schedule an interview!

After the butterflies settle you might be asking yourself - Now What? 

If you've never worked as a school nurse before then 

you might be wondering how to prepare for your interview.

Being prepared should help you stand out from the other applicants.

Hopefully you'll get a call back and a second interview or better yet-

A JOB OFFER!

After receiving multiple emails & Fb messages with the same questions, I decided to write this fun booklet! Check it out :)

How can I prepare for my upcoming school nurse interview?

What questions should I expect to be asked at my school nurse interview?

CLICK HERE

Were you recently interviewed for a school position?

Please comment some questions you were asked & I will add them to this booklet. 

Best of luck on your upcoming school nurse interview;

I hope this information helps you!

Wondering what supplies you might need for your school nurse office?  

Visit The School Nurse Amazon Storefront here

Supplies For The School Nurse's Office

Do you have the medical supplies you need?

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip:  After you've been a school nurse for a while you will come up with your go to supplies for your office. Be basic, Be consistent. Get what works for you and forget about the rest.

IS YOUR NURSE'S OFFICE PREPARED 

A well stocked school nurse's office is essential and necessary  for any school nurse. Since there are a variety of health scenarios that a school nurse might need to deal with on any given day, we need to be prepared for anything. Most school districts allow a certain amount of money each school year to purchase required items for your office (use it or lose it). 

ORDER WITH EASE

Most school nurse's offices are very busy. So busy in fact, that you might not realize you are running low on an item until you are almost out. Sound familiar? Two day shipping in these times can be a life saver! Check with your school district; they might have a business Amazon account which usually offers no state sales tax and free shipping. If so, you can easily request your supplies from whomever is in charge of ordering, they can order your supplies and the items will magically arrive at your school within a couple of days. If not, you can put in a request to purchase the items on your own and ask for reimbursement when the items are received; however, you might not get reimbursed for sales tax. 

SUPPLIES AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

So, I've made lists of common school nurse office supplies available for purchase on Amazon! This list isn't everything, but hopefully the most common items used on a daily basis. Hope it helps. 

PPE

• Nitrile Gloves
• Vinyl Gloves
• Face Masks
• Face Shields
• Other PPE

BANDAGES most prefer flexible, latex free options

• 3/4 X 3 inch Strips
• 1 inch X 3 inch Strips
• 2 inch X 4 inch Strips
• 4 Wing
• Small Fingertip
• Large Fingertip 
• Spots & Ovals
• Knuckle

ICE PACK SUPPLIES

• Ziploc Style Baggies
• Professional Towels
• Plastic Wrap
• Ice Scoop
• Plastic Storage Bin
• Countertop Ice Maker

MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION

• 5 oz Plastic Cups
• 5 oz Paper Cups
• 30 cc 30 ml Med Cups
• Our Favorite 5 G Water Container
• Pill Envelopes
• Pill Counter Tray
• Pill Cutter & Crusher Set

CLEANERS & SANITIZERS

• Disinfectant Wipes
• Disinfectant Sprays
• Hand Sanitizer

THERMOMETERS

• No Contact
• Oral With Probe Covers- Welch Allyn 
• Oral- Single Student

PERIOD PRODUCTS

• Pads
• Tampons

OTHER

• Kleenex
• Saline Solution
• Eye Drops
• Gauze Pads
• Athletic Tape
• Alcohol Pads
• Spray Deodorant