School Nurse Assessment Tools

School Nursing Assessment Tools

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Hopefully Helpful School Nurse Tip: We all know that nurses can't diagnoses. However, school nurses can provide a complete assessment and provide those finding to parents, students, staff and refer for further evaluation as needed. Having the proper assessment tools is vital for any school nurse.

It is already November and I'm feeling a little behind in my schedule because I'm into my 4th week of the CNA train-the-trainer course. I guess I forgot how much time it takes to take the student!

Monthly Notes From The School Nurse for November

You can tell by my picture I was thinking a lot about assessment. Nurses can't diagnosis, but  nurses can offer students and parents our assessment skills.  

• Use the tools available to you in your office then purchase the assessment tools you need.  See some of my favorite assessment tools HERE.
• Provide parents with all of your assessment data for them to share with their doctor or NP.
• Document, document, document.- your results, your interactions, your phone calls & follow up as needed.

Comment a school nurse assessment tool you can't work without! Then check out The School Nurse's assessment tool list HERE! 

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Check out some great school nurse assessment tools on this Amazon List!

 

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!