The Nursing Shortage increases stress at E&S.
Amari Jackson
10/29/2021
Since the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, Carver High School has only been able to have a school nurse on 1 day out of the week, leaving the nurse, staff, and students extremely overwhelmed.
Ms.Applegate, Carver’s part-time nurse, discussed the impact the nursing shortage has had on her and her ability to fulfil the conditions of being a school nurse, citing some of the challenges of being held financially responsible for the lack of resources, being held responsible for tasks that are not apart of their duties as school nurses, and a lack of communication with supervisors as they are too busy dealing with the severe amount of vacancies.
“The supplies aren't there. A lot of us are spending our own money to buy things," Ms.Appelgate said. "To keep our office clean and to purchase supplies for students.”
The nursing shortage has left Ms.Appelgate to deal with working with 3 other schools during the week, leaving them severely understaffed and at high risk for untreated medical incidents.
“The coverage is stressful because like for a school like Carver, it's 900 students, it shouldn't function, it can't function with a school nurse once a week," She said. "So I'm trying to do all the stuff in one day, which isn't fair to students and isn't fair to me.”
Ms. Appelgate offered advice to her fellow nurses working during this difficult time. Advising to make self care an essential to your daily routine and avoiding letting you work life balance to fall apart even when your care for your work is at its highest intensity.
“Make sure you carve time for self care." She said. "I feel like nurses tend to, because [we are] always looking out and [wanting] to help people, sometimes the boundaries of [our] personal and professional life kind of blur."
Ms.Bartkus, a gym teacher at Carver, spoke on how the current nursing shortage has changed her ability to teach in a variety of ways. She has had to face a numerous amount of student needs whether they were student injuries or illnesses. Which forms a barrier for almost all of her students as they either left without a teacher or they are the ones who are actually injured/sick who can’t get the full care and attention they need.
“On an emotional standpoint, it's also a struggle, because you see, you know, these kids that need a service, and they can't get it. And like, emotionally, that takes a toll to see this suffering.”
She offered the difficult experiences she has had treating students during this time. Explaining that a student suffered a shoulder injury on the day that the nurse was absent. The treatment required the help of another fellow gym teacher at Carver. She then described a situation that brought her face to face with a covid affected scenario. The student was bilingual but their parents did not know a lot of english. This put Ms.Bartkus in a strenuous circumstance as she had to work hard at providing a translator for the student’s family. She eventually found a teacher to help aid in translation but expressed how this could have been avoided if a nurse was on site.
“I was out of my room, maybe for like 20 minutes, trying to help find the student a translator, so that we could discuss with their parents, how to get them to the testing centers that the district provides, " She said. "that wouldn't have happened had we had a school nurse, and we'd be able to just get that student what they needed in that time."
She described how she manages the added stress of teaching through a nurse shortage during a pandemic. She uses a variety of rituals such as meditation and journaling to help ease the added tension. She offered advice to fellow teachers, reminding them to maintain a certain mindset that will allow them to get through this tough time.
“it's just understanding that we can only do what we can do, and just trying to find some solace in that, and, and not put these unreasonable expectations on ourselves." She said. "And remember[ing] that all we can do is what we can do in that moment. And that's that.”
To close out our conversation, she shed some light on the possible solution to this epidemic of nursing vacancies. Emphasizing the importance that nurses be fairly compensated for the rigorous work they are required to do.
“ I think that we really need to start paying people appropriately if we want to keep people in the district." She said. "instead of buying the latest software package or computer monitoring program, let's invest in the health and wellness of our staff and students, because lives are on the line, literally.”