What do I do now?

It's fall & I'm a new school nurse- What do I do? 

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip: I'm a maker of lists!  I do this because I think I'll remember all of the details, but I know I won't remember all of the details. So, this post lists a few items I completed during a random month in 2016- October!

1. By now you've should have a handle on your new student required health paperwork & you should have all forms turned in or students on an approved schedule.  I keep track of my "in-series" kiddos on a Google drive sheet!  
2. My typical weekly follow up cases include- doctor related PE excuse notes, concussion status, & vision and hearing re-screens.  For these situations I use the old-school "piles on my desk" tracking system!  I will say the piles are organized, clipped together, and labeled; for now this sort of system seems to work :)
3. I'm getting ready to schedule the yearly dental clinic.  We usually see 80-100 students over a span of three days.
4. I'm also re-vamping the system I use to track IEP students who have a primary or secondary label of OHI & would love to hear if any of you have a system already in place- please share :)  *update- in 2020 I came up with a Google sheet. You can download it for FREE here.
5. I'm also enjoying the GREAT, WARM weather we've been having in Illinois & look forward to watching the CUBS WIN game 7 tonight!!

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Beginning of a School Year & Saying goodbye to September

It's a new school year!

Welcome to another semester.

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip:  The more experience you have working as a school nurse, the more you'll be comfortable with your routine, duties, tasks, and boundaries. Let's take a look at a few things I enjoy about being a school nurse this time of year.

If you're a school nurse you know how busy the beginning part of the school year can be! Who am I kidding?  It seems like every part of the school year is busy, 

but for sure the beginning part of the year!

Here are a few things about me as a school nurse-

1. I like using pretty colored pens in my calendar!  It just makes things look better.  If I can make my busy days look better then the days might seem more manageable.
2. I like to re-purpose empty supply boxes.  See the picture in the upper right corner?  It was the house for non-adherent pads, but it now is a home for some passes I use on a weekly basis! And the vintage Band-Aid container (in the bottom right corner)- it just looks pretty. 
3. I prefer one large (8 inch) To-Do stack in one area of my desk v. multiple  tiny stacks covering my entire desk.
4. Work life is a little easier if you can stay organized!  I make lists of things to do, write notes in my calendar, I actually have a binder titled "book of lists" which is used as a reference for students who have received special passes throughout the year, and I try to compartmentalize areas in my office for certain, specific like tasks.

Comment something you've learned about yourself as a school nurse-

Then check out these School Nurse Supply Lists I've put together for you!