Friday, September 7, 2007

School Nurses

Being a school nurse is a very challenging and rewarding position. I really enjoy it. I have been a nurse for 8 years, five of which where at a local hospital and the other 3 as a school nurse. I worked in geriatrics and post-op med-surge before starting at the school. It is a different atmosphere at the school. The children at my school are all hard of hearing or deaf. Not only was this a change from taking care of adults to taking care of children, but I also had to learn sign language so that I could communicate with the children. The children will help anyone learn signs. When someone knows signs and can hold conversations with them it means the world to them. My husband was cleaning up a house that had caught fire and an older man came up to me and was writing on paper to talk to me. I realized that he was deaf and started using sign language to talk to him. That was the first real conversation that gentlemen had had in a very long time. He lived by himself. I encourage all nurses no matter where you work to learn other languages whether it be sign language or Spanish. It will help your job of caring for people that much easier.
If you have any suggestions on the role of a school nurse, please comment and post it.

Thanks