As many of the readers of this blog may remember, Liz Pray submitted the very first What Happened at School Today post this past winter. Today, Liz provides this update to her original post.
Since I shared my original story so much has happened both good and bad as does with any nurse. Toward the end of March, I inadvertently acquired another building of almost 500 students bringing the caseload to around 2100. Honestly, I was having difficulty keeping up with the three buildings originally assigned. The struggle is real and there have been some near misses the last couple of months. However, I have a new outlook after joining a state staffing committee as a WEA (Washington Education Association) representative for school nurses. The shift since my original story has been to be a voice in a sea of educators. My voice will represent approximately 1000 school nurses across our state. I will be the voice that educates and makes a change along with all my other school nurse partners. Together our voice can make a change.
Published by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN
Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN, is a Nationally Certified School Nurse (NCSN), currently in her 22nd year as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. Robin is the Director for New Jersey to the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) Board. She is proud to be a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow and past Program Mentor. Robin is the honored recipient of multiple awards for her work in school nursing and population health. These awards include, 2019 and 2020 National Association of School Nurses President’s Award, 2018 NCSN School Nurse of the Year, 2017 Johnson & Johnson School Nurse of the Year, and the New Jersey Department of Health 2017 Population Health Hero Award. Robin serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing, where she teaches the next generation of school nurses. She was presented the 2018 Rutgers University – Camden Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award for Part-time Faculty. Robin writes a weekly blog called The Relentless School Nurse. She also writes a monthly column in My American Nurse, the official journal of the American Nurses Association. Robin’s work is included as a case study in The Future of Nursing Report 2020-2030. You can follow Robin on Twitter at @RobinCogan.
View all posts by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN