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Going to school there is always the kind lady in the front
office that is the school nurse. What is her role is health
care? How does the school nurse fit into the healthcare system?
The following will explain their role and how it benefits
our children.
History
The role of the school nurse originated on October 1, 1902.
The original idea behind having a school nurse was to keep
children in school. If a student was sick they would go to
the nurse first to determine if there was an illness that
required the child to leave school. The nurse would also communicate
all the information with the child’s parents and ultimately
let them decide if the child was to stay in school or not
but the nurse would render their opinion on the matter to
the parents. This helps to reduce the number of students leaving
school with a “tummy ache” simply because they
didn’t study for the test in seventh period.
According to the National Association of School Nurses Board
of Directors the definition of school nursing is as follows:
A specialized practice of professional nursing that advances
the well-being, academic success, and life-long 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.
Roles of the School Nurse as Defined by the National
Association of School Nurses
The National Association of School Nurses has high standards
for school nurses. They have seven defined roles.
- The school nurse provides direct health care to students
and staff. This means they provide care for injured and
ill students and staff. They communicate with parents, make
treatment plans, make referrals to physicians, and come
up with emergency action plans. The school nurse is solely
responsible to administer medication on site as well.
- The school nurse provides leadership for the provision
of health services. This means that the nurse looks at the
school environment and makes a plan to ensure the health
needs of the individuals on the campus are being met. This
is especially important in the instance of an emergency
or a crisis.
- The school nurse provides screening and referral for health
conditions. This means that if there are health problems
that can get in the way of learning the nurse may provide
screenings for those conditions to assist parents and students.
Some screening examples may include vision, posture, BMI
and things of this nature. If a problem is found then the
parent would be notified and a referral to a physician would
be rendered.
- The school nurse promotes a healthy school environment.
This means the school nurse makes sure immunizations are
current for all students. They take action to reduce the
risk of blood borne pathogens. They monitor playground,
indoor air quality, patterns of illness, patterns of injury,
and try to determine where there is a source of concern.
They also take action on emotional issues to avoid bullying
incidents and school yard violence because this hurts mental
health.
- The school nurse promotes health. This means the nurse
provides health education to individual students, classes
or to staff.
- The school nurse serves in a leadership role for health
policies and programs. The school nurse is in a leadership
role for developing health policies for the school. They
promote nursing as a career. They serve as a role model
for the student body.
- The school nurse serves as liaison between school personnel,
family, community, and health care providers. This means
the nurse keeps the lines of communication open between
all parties.
Do these seven principles sound like something that would
be an exciting career to you? The first step is to begin your
education to become a nurse. Nursing education can be done
at a career college or online. There are many schools that
offer nursing courses to choose from. To see these and others,
visit the Nursing
Schools directory today. Looking for an Online
Nursing Degree? View a complete list of colleges offering
Nursing
Online.
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