The school nurse to student ratio is a very important issue that is currently being addressed as evidence by this bill attempting to be passed in Virginia. We, as nursing students, believe that the ratio of school nurses to students should be decreased, meaning that each school nurse should be responsible for less students. This would be beneficial to parents, students, healthcare, teachers, nurses, and the public as a whole. There are examples of how each of these populations would benefit from the passage of this bill. Currently, most school nurses in Virginia are not only responsible for students in one school, but also students in multiple schools throughout the county. This could cause many problems for the students in the school when the nurse is not present and not readily available. Although school nurses are assigned to schools within a close proximity, travel times between schools in times of emergencies can be too long. For example, if a student has an asthma attack and the nurse is not present, the student may not have access to their inhaler. Also, if a student gets stung by a bee and needs an epi-pen, other individuals may not know how to provide the necessary care, which could be life threatening to the student. In a critical situation, if a non-trained person acts they may not have the critical thinking skills provided by a nurse to further the child's treatment. Teachers may have adequate knowledge regarding basic care of simple injuries including cleaning a scrape and providing an ice pack; however, as commented on a previous blog comment, it is “important that qualified staffing is available for the school age population”. Qualified staffing would help minimize the extent of injuries and the event could be handled in a smoother and more experienced manner. According to Guttu, Engelke, and Swanson in their 2004 article “Does the School Nurse-to-Student Ratio Make a Difference?”, there is a significant correlation between the increased presence of school nurses and the services available for children with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes and asthma. There has also been a noted relationship between nurse availability that can provide counseling services and positive outcomes of children related to depression and unplanned pregnancy. With more school nurses, there is an increase in follow up care for the children that fail school screenings for vision and hearing (Guttu, et al, 2004).
Another comment posted, questioned whether or not RN’s would be willing to choose school nursing over hospital nursing. Throughout our research, we have discovered that there is more of an issue regarding money available to fund additional school nurses rather than they’re not being enough school nurses to fill the positions. School nursing can be appealing to nurses due to having summers and vacations off, as well as having these days off with their children if they are mothers.
We plan to contact at least four key stakeholders and/or legislators in a professional manner in order to ensure them our support and invite them to visit our blog. We will contact these professionals via e-mail. We will begin by contacting the sponsor of the bill, Delegate Lionel Spruill Sr., and the co-sponsor, Rosalyn R. Dance. We will then communicate with local school nurses and get their opinion about the bill or inform them if they are unaware of the present bill being addressed.
A concern has been brought to our attention in a previous blog comment stating that although the passage of this bill will open up job opportunities, it will also require additional funding. Do you think that increasing the school nurse availability could help the cost of healthcare decrease in the long run?
Source:
Gutto, M., Engelke, M., & Swanson, M. (2004). Does the school nurse-to-student ratio make a difference?. Journal of School Health, 1(74), 06-09. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0b4466f0-f963-4450-8ad3-ccb297d5cd1c@sessionmgr104&vid=4&hid=120
I agree with a lot of points made in this post and I think a lot of them have been reflected in the schools we have visited through our school screenings for Community Health. In talking to the school nurses they told us that they chose to fill this role knowing the importance that a school health nurse has in a modified role of a home health nurse. The nurse is the life line for many of the kids in the school and it is important for them to have training and confidence in their ability to practice independently. The nurses we talked to said they held hospital floor positions in the past and apply it daily in their critical thinking and care of students. The nurses also commented on how busy they are when working on screening test as well as their "regulars" who come in to the office for medications. I agree that a decreased ratio is something to advocate for and would benefit all parties in performing the best health care for a population that could use the benefit. In terms of delegating funds I think it would be worth it and I think the nurses, as advocates for the students and in a role that provides wellness care as well as health promotion and education, would be beneficial in the long run relative to student health and safety.
ReplyDelete-Sam (Group 4)
We have talked to the school nurses we met during school screenings as well and found a lot of the same things (they often have a history of working on floors, report being busy). One thing the school nurse we talked to also mentioned was that the community did not seem to promote health promotion or illness prevention. Also, the closest place to get medical attention was at least 45 minutes. With an improved nurse to student ratio, the outlook for health promotion might also be beneficially affected. When nurses report high numbers of children with medical needs, the concern is secondary or tertiary disease prevention. If school nurses had more manageable work loads, they might be able to focus on primary prevention.
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