Typical of most school nurses

School nurse Barbara Lynn Filer doesn’t just slap Band-Aids over playground scrapes and dole out Tylenol tablets.

Every day she juggles duties ranging from disaster preparedness to the simple task of applying an ice pack to a bumped elbow — at two different schools.

“It’s all a day-in-the-life of every school nurse,” said Filer of Spring Township, who splits her workday between Tyson-Schoener and Thomas H. Ford elementary schools in Reading.

Despite the ever-widening range of responsibilities, the expense of certifi — cation courses and the lure of higher salaries in the private sector, Filer said she would rather be a school nurse.

She’s not alone.

Despite recruiting competition from hospitals, which offer higher starting salaries and even signing bonuses, local schools aren’t having trouble recruiting full-time nurses.

Filer, typical of most school nurses, said she was drawn to the position by the opportunity to work with children.

Good benefits, summer vacations, and work schedules that coincide with their own children’s school day are also attractive, other local school nurses said.

Average starting nurse salaries in hospitals fall just short of $40,000, and signing bonuses now range between $1,000 and $5,000, said Dr. Amelia Capotosta, assistant dean of the Division of Health Professions at the Reading Area Community College.

“Our students are not having trouble finding good jobs (in the private sector) around here,” Capotosta said.

Hospital nurses can also expect lucrative overtime pay and reasonably quick promotions. This is in sharp contrast to school nurses’ situation.

The salaries of school nurses, who fall under teachers bargaining units, are locked in at contract time and therefore do not increase along with the nursing demand.

While the nursing shortage is not having a signifi cant impact on their ability to hire permanent nurses, school offi — cials said, finding substitute nurses has been a challenge, which could be linked to the shortage.

Although schools can fi ll the allotted full-time positions, some nursing groups insist there still aren’t enough nurses to address a growing student population with complex health needs.

Advances in medicine and skyrocketing incidences of childhood illnesses are changing schools, said Marian Smithey, education director for the National Association of School Nurses, complicating the role of school nurses and stretching school medical staff thin.

“Children are surviving with chronic health conditions in greater numbers and need extra care in schools,” she said. “It’s become a much more complex job than people understand.”

Severely disabled children, once institutionalized, are now in the mainstream of public schools.

Allergies, asthma and diabetes, all of which can require urgent treatment, add to the burden on school nurses, many of whom serve several school buildings.

Georeno said school nurses sometimes are the primary health care provider for students without health insurance.

Both national and state nursing associations are trying to lighten the load by lobbying for lower state-mandated ratios of certifi ed school nurses to students.

Pennsylvania law requires schools employ at least one certified school nurse for every 1,500 students. The federal ratio is 1-to-750.

The ratio in individual districts and schools vary widely, and is largely determined by the budget.

“If we could afford it we would have a full-time nurse in every school building,” said Reading’s Human Resources Director Dr. Anthony Georeno. “We value our nurses and they are a critical part of our instructional efforts.”

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