{"id":57564,"date":"2021-06-03T00:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-06-03T04:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=57564"},"modified":"2021-06-02T17:35:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-02T21:35:41","slug":"school-nurses-have-a-big-job-is-1-for-every-750-kids-really-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/school-nurses-have-a-big-job-is-1-for-every-750-kids-really-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"School nurses have a big job \u2013 is 1 for every 750 kids really enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

When many people think of a school nurse, they imagine a person who hands out Band-Aids for boo-boos.<\/p>\n

But school nurses do so much more. They are school leaders who address the physical, mental and emotional health needs of students.<\/p>\n

As the COVID-19 pandemic played out, many school nurses took on even greater responsibilities. These include monitoring and evaluating staff and students for COVID-19 exposure and symptoms,\u00a0contact tracing<\/a>\u00a0and educating students, staff and community partners on vaccine and prevention measures. School nurses are also developing initiatives to deal with the anticipated\u00a0increase in mental health services<\/a>\u00a0that students, families and staff will need in the post-pandemic world.<\/p>\n

And yet, the\u00a0U.S. Department of Health and Human Services<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>\u00a0recommend that public elementary, middle and high schools aim to have one school nurse for every 750 students.<\/p>\n

As a former school nurse and current\u00a0nurse scientist<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0professor of nursing<\/a>, I know that this one-size-fits-all model does not consider the full role and responsibilities of the school nurse.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, as far as I can tell,\u00a0no published research or evidence<\/a>\u00a0supports this ratio.\u00a0It\u2019s been traced<\/a>\u00a0at least as far back as the early 1970s and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, now known as the\u00a0Individuals with Disabilities Education Act<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Safety net for vulnerable kids<\/strong><\/h4>\n

School nursing is a specialized practice that operates in environments very different from an acute care hospital setting. School nurses work alone, practice independently and are typically the sole health care provider in the building.<\/p>\n

As\u00a0part of our public health system<\/a>, they play a critical role in disease surveillance, disaster preparedness, wellness and chronic disease prevention interventions, immunizations, mental health screening and asthma education.<\/p>\n

And they are a\u00a0safety net for society\u2019s most vulnerable children<\/a>. For example, if a student is experiencing food insecurity, the school nurse might\u00a0coordinate with a community partner<\/a>\u00a0or school social worker to help the student and their family not go hungry.<\/p>\n

Most school nurses will tell you they are unable to carry out many of these functions, often due to\u00a0huge workloads<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0poor staffing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I know from personal experience. From 2009 to 2014, I was the sole school nurse responsible for the health and safety of over 900 public elementary school children. This included special education classrooms for preschoolers and students with nonverbal autism.\u00a0I now research<\/a>\u00a0how school health policies and practices effect the work environment of school nurses, and the\u00a0challenges and barriers they face<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Research shows<\/a>\u00a0how a positive work environment for school nurses increases job satisfaction, reduces turnover and\u00a0improves academic outcomes<\/a>\u00a0for students. A study of school nurses in Massachusetts schools demonstrated that for every dollar invested in school nursing,\u00a0society would gain US$2.20<\/a>\u00a0as a result of kids\u2019 better health and disease prevention.<\/p>\n

No one-size-fits-all ratio<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A\u00a0school nurse\u2019s workload<\/a>\u00a0depends on a number of\u00a0significant variables<\/a>. For example, how many students in the school have chronic illnesses and need medication administered? How many students attend the school? What ages are they? What is the average number of student visits to the health office each school day? Are students spread across multiple buildings? What level of experience and specialized skills does the school nurse have?<\/p>\n

The number of students in a school who are dealing with poverty or other\u00a0health equity issues<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 including access to quality education, safe housing and health care \u2013 also impacts and increases the workload for school nurses.<\/p>\n

These evidence-based variables can be used to guide school administrators and school nurses on what constitutes safe staffing. Making sure school nurses have a safe, appropriate workload is critical to ensuring that students have their health needs met at school.<\/p>\n

[Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.<\/em>\u00a0Sign up for our weekly newsletter<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Parents who are concerned about their child\u2019s health at school may want to find out how many students their child\u2019s school nurse cares for. How many students does the school nurse see on a typical day? Is a school nurse in the building every day? Does the school nurse cover more than one building? What happens when there is an emergency, such as a child with a life-threatening allergic reaction? Where are the emergency care plans kept? Is there stock medication available such as epinephrine and albuterol for students with severe allergies or asthma?<\/p>\n

I believe school nurses need more manageable workloads in order to provide the safe care needed for better student health and academic outcomes. This leads to better health not just in individuals but in communities that need it most.<\/p>\n

Author Bio:<\/strong> Beth Jameson is <\/span>Assistant Professor of Nursing at Seton Hall University<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When many people think of a school nurse, they imagine a person who hands out Band-Aids for boo-boos. But school nurses do so much more. They are school leaders who address the physical, mental and emotional health needs of students. As the COVID-19 pandemic played out, many school nurses took on even greater responsibilities. These […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":57565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[400998],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-57564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-school-nurses"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSchool nurses have a big job \u2013 is 1 for every 750 kids really enough? - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/school-nurses-have-a-big-job-is-1-for-every-750-kids-really-enough\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"School nurses have a big job \u2013 is 1 for every 750 kids really enough? - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When many people think of a school nurse, they imagine a person who hands out Band-Aids for boo-boos. 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