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Remember when you were little and you fell in the
schoolyard and bruised your knee? No doubt, a school
nurse dried your tears and bandaged you up. That same
school nurse also checked your vision and-for some of
us who are older-administered our polio vaccine.
Today, school nurses still apply bandages and check
vision, but their roles have expanded significantly.
Many operate what amounts to one-nurse clinics at their
schools while others team up to provide programs to
meet all types and complexities of the health needs
of the children they serve (and sometimes those of their
families, too). Working together on a national level,
the National Association of School Nurses recently received
a grant from the national Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention to create the School Nurse Asthma Management
Program.
Some great examples of what school nurses do were seen
in the finalists of our NurseWeek Nursing Excellence
Awards in October. Tammy Gore of Louisiana showed us
the holistic approach of many school nurses, Laura Melotte
from El Paso emphasized the special needs of children
and families from different cultures and Pamelia Butler
of Tulsa demonstrated the creativity of school nurses
with her "Health Alert" television series.
Jan. 23 is National School Nurse Day. According to
the National Association of School Nurses, the purpose
of the day is to celebrate the contributions of school
nurses toward improving the health of children and to
foster a better understanding of the expanded school
nurse role.
The theme chosen for this year is "Partners With
Children," but it seems to me that those of us
who are not school nurses should tweak the slogan just
a little and figure out ways to make our theme "Partners
With School Nurses." Unlike nurses who work in
hospitals and large health care facilities, school nurses
often do not have a large professional support system
of other nurses working next to them. What if each hospital
or nursing unit "adopted" a school nurse or
a group of school nurses?
The school nurses could be invited to the hospital's
continuing education classes for nurses, have access
to the hospital library and clinical reference information
systems, be given an opportunity to bring their students
in for tours or be invited to lunch just to share nursing
stories.
At a minimum, we can take a few minutes this week to
encourage the parents and schools in our neighborhoods
to recognize the contributions of school nurses Jan.
23 and to commit to forming a deeper relationship with
our school nurse colleagues. The potential for what
we could accomplish together is enormous and the benefits
to our children and communities unlimited.
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