School Nurse

About the Role

This position serves in a lead capacity to promote healthcare and provide medical assistance to students and staff within Hamilton County Schools.

Responsibilities

• Acts in a professional, respectful, and welcoming manner at all times.
• Creates a customer-focused climate and provides quality services and support to schools and stakeholders.
• Complies with applicable district, state, and federal codes, laws, rules, regulations, standards, policies, and procedures.
• Enhances the education process by maximizing the health and well-being of school-aged children and adolescents, focusing on prevention of illness/disability and early detection/correction of health problems.
• Provides direction, guidance, training, and assistance to employees; troubleshoots and resolves problem situations.
• Dispenses approved and/or prescribed medications appropriately to students and maintains appropriate medical records.
• Develops and implements protocols and procedures for responding to student illness and injuries, including special interventions for acute illness, severe injury, emotional disturbance, and communicable diseases.
• Recommends modifications to school programs to meet health needs of general and special populations and assists in evaluating program effectiveness.
• Ensures compliance with established school health guidelines, safety and infection control procedures, and all applicable laws and regulations.
• Provides routine and emergency medical care to students within prescribed boundaries of training, certification, and policies.
• Promotes and protects the optimal health status of students, working with well children and those with acute/chronic illnesses, injuries, or disabilities.
• Observes students for developmental and health patterns, provides initial diagnoses, interprets health status, and initiates referrals for intervention and follow-through.
• Assists in the control of communicable diseases through audits of immunization records, early detection, surveillance, and reporting.
• Coordinates referrals to outside health services and participates in health education to improve health awareness.
• Provides ongoing health counseling to students, parents, and school personnel; maintains and interprets cumulative health data.
• Participates in home visits to assess family needs related to a child’s health.
• Provides instruction or recommendations regarding OSHA, CPR, and other health-related needs.
• Monitors inventory of department equipment and supplies.
• Participates as a health team specialist on the Assessment Team and/or IEP-Team for students with health disabilities.
• Supervises clinical observations/experience for nursing students.
• Communicates with supervisor, employees, departments, school officials, parents, physicians, and other stakeholders to coordinate activities and resolve problems.
• Maintains current RN license after employment; failure to do so may result in disciplinary action, including termination.
• Follows proper channels to report impending problems or unusual events.
• Ensures assigned areas are safe and collaborates with school staff, students, parents, and stakeholders.
• Adheres to the Teacher Code of Ethics as defined by Tennessee Law.
• Operates a computer and other office equipment to manage data and health-related tasks.
• May operate a motor vehicle to travel to various schools.
• Performs general/clerical tasks, such as answering calls, typing documents, filing, and processing mail.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Four-year degree with coursework emphasis in Nursing preferred.
• Three years of experience in nursing, preferably in a school, pediatric, adolescent, or public health environment.
• Must possess and maintain licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN) in Tennessee or a compact state.
• Must possess and maintain valid CPR and First Aid certification.

Skills

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills to effectively interact with students, educators, employees, community members, and parents.
• Ability to utilize a computer and other technology to enter and retrieve data.

Pay

Salary is based on a combination of relevant education and experience, following the Grade F-H Salary Scale.