Role of the School Nurse in Providing School Health Services

If a student has an asthma attack, gets in an accident on the playground or experiences a sugar spike, it’s the school nurse who will get the child back to class or to a doctor. When a student sprains something, swallows something or has any other acute health issue, the person who matters most at the moment is the school nurse.

On a deeper level, when families have medical issues that are affecting their children’s school performance, it’s the school nurse who can connect that family to the right community resources. School nurses play a key role in children’s health.

At the same time, school nurses bring a public health point of view to the school. They work with teachers and school leaders to make changes that affect all students’ health. For example, school nurses work to promote healthy food and fitness programs in schools and to promote handwashing and better hygiene to prevent the spread of disease.

excerpt from http://www.healthyschoolscampaign.org

SCHOOL NURSE DEFINITION

The National Association of School Nurses defines school nursing as:

A specialized practice of professional nursing that advances the well-being, academic success, and lifelong achievement of students. To that end, school nurses facilitate positive student responses to normal development; promote health and safety; intervene with actual and potential health problems; provide case management services; and actively collaborate with others to build student and family capacity for adaptation, self-management, self-advocacy, and learning.

After the child’s home, school represents the second most influential environment in a child’s life. As more students enter schools with health or mental health problems, pediatricians face the challenge of managing their care throughout the school day. The school nurse is the health care representative on site. An understanding of the school nurse’s role is essential to ensure coordinated care. There is a recognized relationship between health and learning, as there is between school nurse availability and student well-being and educational success. The role of the school nurse encompasses both health and educational goals. Students today may face family crises, homelessness, immigration, poverty, and violence, which increase both their physical and mental health needs. School nurses perform a critical role within the school health program by addressing the major health problems experienced by children. This role includes providing preventive and screening services, health education and assistance with decision-making about health, and immunization against preventable diseases. In addition, school nurses may provide interventions for acute and chronic illness, injuries and emergencies, communicable diseases, obesity, substance use and abuse, adolescent pregnancy, mental health, dental disease, nutrition, and sexually transmitted infections. School nurses need to be physically present in schools to address these responsibilities appropriately. Improved student outcomes result where schools have a full-time school nurse.  Inadequate staffing threatens the school nurse’s role as medical home extender.

School nurses are well positioned to take the lead for the school system in partnering with school physicians, community physicians, and community organizations. They facilitate access to Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to help families and students enroll in state health insurance programs and may assist in finding a medical home for each student who needs one.

From the American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement endorsed by the National Association of School Nurses to read the abstract in its entirety click here.