Identification and recovery of co-dependent school nurses

It is 4:30 p.m. and Christie, a school nurse, is just finishing work. She feels helpless, exhausted, and driven as she reviews the day's activities and the many tasks not done. To be ready for tomorrow's work, she realizes she must take work home to complete that night. Christie has worked as a school nurse for 10 years. She is the only school nurse for the 2,500 students enrolled in one high school, one junior high school, and three elementary schools. This student population includes a number of developmentally disabled children. Because Christie works in a school system rather than a medical facility, she has no immediate medical support or back-up. Christie feels a keen sense of responsibility to provide a good school health program, yet she worries about whether she is doing an adequate job. Christie is beginning to feel resentment and anger at the long hours she works and the multiple demands on her time, but she has difficulty expressing those feelings. Sometimes she even feels guilty about having them--after all, her job is to meet the health care needs of the children in her schools. Christie wonders if her supervisor, a school administrator, understands and appreciates all the work she does.