School Nurses Understaffed, Overwhelmed

(CBS)  It's the beginning of a new school day in Ardmore, Oklahoma. But for school nurse Renita Dotson it's like every other day: busy.

Dotson is the only full-time nurse in a district with more than 3,000 students as CBS News Correspondent Don Teague reports.

On this morning she had two sick kids in her middle school office eve before the first bell rang. She spent the rest of the day treating and monitoring kids at six other schools across the city.

"We see them first and that's medical. We're not doctors but we do the best we can with what we have," she said.

Special Report: Back to School

The school nurse workload in Ardmore is far from unique. On average, most school districts around the nation fall well short of the federal recommendation of at least one registered nurse for every 750 students.

The National Association of School Nurses says only 12 states and the District of Columbia meet the standard set by the Centers for Disease Control.

In Vermont there is a nurse for every 275 students. But many more states miss the mark: Oklahoma has just one nurse for every 3,100 students. In Utah, it's one nurse for nearly 4,900 students. About a quarter of all schools, at least 23,000 have no nurses at all.

"We have great concern for those children who are in schools without a nurse," said Amy Garcia, Executive Director of the National Association of School Nurses. "Particularly with the threat of a pandemic of H1N1 flu."

School nurses will be the first line of defense this fall.

"If we did have the nurses in the schools they could probably see the signs quicker," said Dotson.

In Ardmore, a million dollar cut in this year's budget left no room to hire more nurses.

"If we had just any extra money, we'd put more nurses in," said Ardmore Schools Assistant Superintendent Geneva Matlack.

Nurse Dotson like so many others is outnumbered and worried about what the upcoming flu season may bring.

[DTMANN]

Before I was cut off, I was saying:
What are schools to do if their funding gets cut? The schools' primary purpose is to educate. While we truly watch our for the whole child, hiring a full-time school nurse is virtually impossible in some districts. The money has to be spent to educate children so they pass the standards and tests that have been mandated by the government. I wish we, as school districts, could afford to hire full-time nurses for each building or for every 400 students in a school. But then again, I wish we could hire enough teachers so that we don't have classrooms bulging at the seams with a huge range of students reading anywhere from 4 years below grade level to 5-8 years above grade level.

By the way, CBS, maybe you should start presenting BOTH sides of stories equally instead of just one. I thought that was considered objective reporting. You must have been absent the day they taught that in journalism school.

[ksmit2]

I worked with an ICU RN who also worked as a school nurse, because she
liked the hours. The situation she described was kids wanting almost any
excuse to skip class, wanting to talk about sex, having a kid, almost
a nanny "confidant" type thing. Every now and then she encountered someone
who was actually "sick", but they were few and far between.
Our society has managed to disable entire generations with "learned"
victimhood, and eternal dependence and "neediness" (if there is such a
term). If your sick, then don't go to school that day. Seeing a doctor
will go further than seeing a "big sister".

[Marjorum]

In my state the school system is so financially stressed, many systems are using EMT Basics (120 hour college class) in place of RNs. The EMTs do not have the knowledge or training to do the job of a school RN. These EMTs even administer medications about which they know nothing. The state will discipline the EMT (they lose their certification) if they are discovered working as an RN, but the school system gets off completely, until their next EMT is exposed. If I was a parent with a child who needed medication administered by a nurse, I would certainly investigate the medical qualifications of the person performing that task.

[Marjorum]

In my state the school system is so financially stressed, many systems are using EMT Basics (120 hour college class) in place of RNs. The EMTs do not have the knowledge or training to do the job of a school RN. These EMTs even administer medications about which they know nothing. The state will discipline the EMT (they lose their certification) if they are discovered working as an RN, but the school system gets off completely, until their next EMT is exposed. If I was a parent with a child who needed medication administered by a nurse, I would certainly investigate the medical qualifications of the person performing that task.

[moonbod48]

I'm a RN from holland but can not find a job because they won't honor my papers. I can not find a school that will honor my papers, everywere are waiting lists and they make it so difficult to go to nursing school and so expensive that after looking and fighting the system for almost a year I'm kind off tired off trying and very frustrated. i was for the last 7 years headnurse in a nursing home and now I can not work as an CNA.or LPN is their anybody who can explain this to me. I'm a legal resident. so what is the problem,

monique

[ksmit2]

There are still many nursing schools that offer a two year curriculum.
Check the junior colleges, and community colleges in your area. Don't get
discouraged. If you have to start from "scratch" again, so what. I have
worked with nurses who came from Nigeria, one had been a midwife.
Persistence is your best tool. I've known ladies who went to nursing
school after their kids were grown and "left the nest". Four year schools are more expensive of course, but you can get a two year diploma
or associate's degree. Stick to the RN pursuit. You make a pretty good
living, and more job options that you can branch out to. Good luck.

[LuckyLady6253]

As an LPN, I think the school districts need to wake up and smell the coffee. There are plenty of us out here who are more than capab;e of being school nurses. There are only 2 differences between and LPN AND AN RN....:pns cannot start a blood transfusion(we can stop and disconnect them though and we cannot give IV push meds...these are the ONLY differences beterrn RN and LPN. We are just as capable sometimes we are MORE capable than RNs. The school districs need to start using PLNs in the school systems. There are places that they do that and God knows thry sace the district money but are getting the same caliber of care. I jhave known some RNS, seen them in action who don't have a clue about anything, are as lazy as the come, do nothing.....there is nothing wrong with hiring LPNs....they are the workhorses of the medical field. THINK ABOUT IT LPNs are what the school systems around this country need to lookat much more carefully. Think of the money you would save and the caliber of medical care you would gain! What an improvement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[moonbod48]

I agree completly. The system fails

[bubbadubba]

I am sure the Republicans are against school nurses too since that is government funded health care.

[aChangeOfIdeas]

In my school district, we're doing a little better, one school nurse for 1600 students. She is tremendously overworked, there's always at least five or six kids in the office and she still has to deal with the prescriptions, the diabetic kids, and with 1600 kids emergencies happen often enough (allergic reactions, seizures, fainting) and since kids can't carry OTC medicine she's got all the headaches and tummyaches too. For this the district pays her $26K and I seriously don't know why she stays.

[SchoolNurse222]

I am one school nurse for 19,000 student for a school district in California. Last spring one of our elementary school closed for two days due to H1N1 virus and this summer one of our school also had a case of H1N1. We need more school nurses. The school districts do not have the money, but what about the government funding the front line of defense in health - our schools.
Thanks, Linda Anderson RN, District School Nurse for Antioch Unified School District.

[Alessandro Machi]

19,000 students. Wow.