Substitute Nurse

Job Overview

DUBUQUE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT
Job Description

POSITION TITLE: School Nurse Substitute

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:
1. Qualified to practice as a Registered Nurse in the State of Iowa and holds an
unrestricted license
2. Certified in CPR or BLS (or obtain in the first 6 months)

DISTRICT RECOMMENDATIONS:
1. Registered Nurse
2. Minimum of one (1) year experience in public health nursing, community health
nursing, school health nursing or pediatric nursing preferred

BASIC FUNCTIONS:
To be able to function in the absence of the school nurse assigned to the building. The
Dubuque Community School Nurse has the following basic functions:
1. Provides health services to strengthen and facilitate the educational process by
modifying or removing health-related barriers to learning in the individual
students.
2. Promote an optimal level of wellness of students and staff by providing
preventive health services to facilitate the students and staff’s optimal physical,
mental, emotional and social growth and development.
3. Identify problems and disabilities and provide such services as case finding,
health education, referring, and care in order to help prevent serious health
problems and manage current chronic conditions.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITES:
As a school nurse substitute, you will be expected to fulfill the responsibilities of the
building’s school nurse as assigned. The usual responsibilities are listed below. This is
not an exhaustive list and other responsibilities may be assigned as needed.
1. Promotes and protects the optimal health status of school-age children
2. Provides health assessments
3. Obtains a health history
4. Screens and evaluates findings of deficit in vision, hearing, growth, etc.
5. Observes the child for development and health patterns in making nursing
assessment.
6. Identifies abnormal health findings.
7. Develops and implements a student health plan
8. Interprets the health status of students to parents and school personnel.
9. Initiates referral to parents, school personnel or community health resources for
intervention, remediation and follow through.
10. Provides ongoing health counseling with students, parents, school personnel or health
agencies.
11. Utilizes existing health resources to provide appropriate care of students.
12. Maintains, evaluates and interprets cumulative health data to accommodate individual
needs of students
13. Plans and implements school health management protocols
14. Participates in home visits when indicated to assess the family needs as related to the
child’s health.
15. Develops procedures and provides for emergency nursing management for
injuries/illnesses
16. Promotes and assists in the control of communicable diseases.
17. Provides health education and anticipatory guidance (E)
18. Provides direct health education, and health counseling to assist students and families
in making decisions on health and lifestyles that affect health.
19. Participates in health education directly and indirectly for the improvement of health
by teaching persons to become more assertive health consumers and to assume greater
responsibility for their own health.
20. Serves as a resource person to the school staff members in health instruction.
21. Coordinates school and community health activities and serves as a liaison health
professional between the home, school and community.
22. Acts as a resource person in promoting health careers.
23. Engages in research and evaluation of school health services to act as a change agent
for school health programs and school nursing practices.
24. Provides consultation in the formation of health policies, goals and objectives for the
school district.
25. Where applicable, participates in the IEP plan development.
26. Assist with the Medicaid claiming process and do claiming on qualified students

DEMONSTRATED KNOWLEDGE AND ABILITIES:
Knowledge of:
1. Principles and practices underlying professional nursing.
2. Principles and practices underlying the special field of school health.
3. Current trends in nursing and of literature in the fields of school health.
4. Organization and administration of other cooperating agencies.
5. State and local laws relating to health and social issues.
Ability to:
1. Participate cooperatively in a program of school health nursing.
2. Exercise professional judgment in making decisions.
3. Communicate appropriately, collaboratively, and effectively with students, parents,
administrators, other school personnel, health care providers, and community agencies.
4. Demonstrate a genuine interest in the student population and its health needs.
5. Organize a health office and manage time.
6. Be a self-starter or self-motivated.
7. Use a computer and various software applications