School Nurse- PRN

About the Role

Hamilton County Schools, located in Chattanooga, TN, is working to ensure that all students thrive and experience a future without limits. We are seeking outstanding leaders, teachers, support staff, and district employees who desire to make a difference in the lives of students. The purpose of this job is to serve in a lead capacity in the promotion of health care and provision of medical assistance to students and staff of 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 school and other 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, with focus on prevention of illness/disability and early detection/correction of health problems.
• Provides direction, guidance, training, and assistance to employees; troubleshoots and works to resolve problem situations; responds to employee problems/concerns.
• Dispenses approved and/or prescribed medications appropriately to students. Maintains appropriate medical records regarding all dispensation of medication.
• Develops and implements protocols and procedures for responding to student illness and injuries, including special intervention for occurrences of acute illness, severe injury, emotional disturbance, and communicable diseases; recommends modification of school programs to meet the health needs of the general and special populations; and assists in the continual evaluation of program effectiveness.
• Ensures compliance with established school health guidelines, safety and infection control procedures, and all other applicable laws, rules, regulations, standards, practices, policies, and procedures; initiates any actions necessary to correct deviations or violations; follows safety procedures, utilizes safety equipment, and monitors work environment to ensure safety of students, employees, and other individuals.
• Provides routine and emergency medical care to students within the prescribed boundaries of training, certification, and applicable policies and procedures.
• Promotes and protects the optimal health status of students; works with well children and children with acute chronic illnesses, injuries, handicapping conditions, and developmental disabilities. Works with students to promote wellness.
• Observes students for developmental and health patterns during routine assessments and provides an initial diagnosis; identifies adverse health findings; interprets the health status of students to parents and school personnel; initiates referrals to parents, school personnel, and community health resources for intervention, remediation, and follow-through.
• Assists in the control of communicable diseases through audits of immunization records, early detection, surveillance, reporting of contagious diseases to appropriate persons/agencies, and proper disinfection. Coordinates referrals to outside health services.
• Participates directly and indirectly in health education for improvement of health by teaching persons to become more assertive health consumers and assume greater responsibility for their own health.
• Provides ongoing health counseling to students, parents, and school personnel; maintains, evaluates, and interprets cumulative health data to accommodate individual needs of students; participates in home visits to assess the family's needs as related to the child's health; provides direct health education and health counseling to assist students and families in making decisions on health and lifestyles that affect health.
• Provides instruction or recommendations regarding OSHA, CPR, and other health-related needs.
• Monitors inventory of department equipment and supplies; ensures availability of adequate materials to conduct work activities.
• Participates as 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, other departments, school officials, school faculty/staff, students, parents, physicians, pharmacists, other medical/nursing professionals, social service agency personnel, health department personnel, community organizations, vendors, the public, state/federal agencies, outside organizations, and other individuals as needed to coordinate work activities, review status of work, exchange information, or resolve problems.
• Maintains current license as a RN after employment. Note: Failure to maintain the required District and State credentials may result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment with HCDE.
• Communicates through the proper channels to keep supervisor and other appropriate personnel informed of impending problems or events of unusual nature.
• Follows established procedures for ensuring assigned areas are safe. Works collaboratively with school staff, students, parents, and other stakeholders.
• Attends work and arrives to work on time.
• Maintains confidentiality.
• Adheres to the Teacher Code of Ethics as defined by Tennessee Law.
• Operates a computer and other school office equipment to enter, retrieve, review, or modify data. Operates a variety of equipment and instruments associated with school health work activities.
• May operate a motor vehicle to travel to various schools.
• Performs general/clerical tasks, which may include answering telephone calls, typing documents, making copies, sending/receiving faxes, filing documentation, or processing incoming/outgoing mail.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Four-year degree with coursework emphasis in Nursing preferred; supplemented by three (3) years previous experience and/or training involving nursing, preferably in a school, pediatric, adolescent, or public health environment; or any equivalent combination of education, training, and experience which provides the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities for this job.
• Must possess and maintain licensure as a Registered Nurse (RN) in Tennessee.
• Must possess and maintain valid CPR and First Aid certification.

Skills

• Demonstrate excellent verbal and written communication skills to deal effectively with students, educators, employees, community members, parents, and other stakeholders.
• Must possess and maintain a valid Tennessee nursing license or a compact state license.
• Ability to utilize a computer and other technology in order to enter and retrieve data.

Pay

Hourly rates for School Nurses are determined by a combination of both level of education and years worked as a licensed nurse. Salary is based on a combination of relevant education and experience. Grade F-H Salary Scale.