I work at a school that serves special education students and medically fragile special education students. The majority of the time I see mostly the medically fragile students. There are a large number of students I rarely to never see simply because they don’t need a nurse. One of the private duty nurses asked me recently what I liked most about working here. I had to think for a moment. It’s no secret that I love my job, but what makes me like it here so much? My answer is that even though I have a set schedule of nursing tasks for various students that need to be followed, every day is different. Every time I’m in the office someone different walks in with some sort of need. Sometimes it’s a student, sometimes it’s staff who were roughed up by a student and they need guidance to deal with their wounds.
Every day is the same; but different. The students I provide care for are different day to day. Sometimes they are very quiet and sometimes they are quite loud and very expressive. There are also situations that arise that are totally unexpected and emergent. Not that I like emergency occurrences, but it does get your blood pumping and brain chemicals flowing. You realize you can stay calm and you do know what to do and the staff here is wonderful in taking direction. All your nursing training for that situation comes flooding back like a river and you calmly perform nursing interventions specific for that student in that situation. And emergencies don’t have a time table or wait until it’s a “good” time. They happen when they happen. I’ve had to take care of a student in need at the end of the day, during the middle of PM bussing and everyone is waiting and wanting to go home, on a Friday no less. Everything worked out but I wanted to collapse when it was over.
I’ve decided that if I were to continue my nursing education I would like to go to school to be a Nurse Practitioner. I don’t see me returning to school soon but it’s something I’ve recently thought about.
Menay O; mom to 4, Christian and thrift shopper on the side... 