The services of a school nurse are required to oversee and ensure the mental, emotional, physical and social wellbeing of the students. The nurses provide basic health care services in a school setting, starting from preschool to university level. Hoekstra et al. (2016) argues that school nurses play a cardinal role delivering and coordinating public health interventions in school settings. The department of public health recognizes the important pillar supported by school nurses towards the overall health of a given population.
A school nurse protects and promotes optimal health among school going children. The nurses also obtain health history from students to establish whether some students are predisposed to genetic diseases such as asthma. At this time, COVID-19 has presented as a major hindrance considering its ease of communication. School nurses are supposed to assist when developing COVID-19 prevention policies and implementing them in the school. The nurse should also identify other communicable diseases and propose ways of preventing their spread.
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It is the duty of a school nurse to conduct first aid and assess the severity of the injury.. The school nurse administers medication after assessing students and diagnosing different diseases. In some cases, the school nurse is required to give engage in emergency care to save lives. Emergency care may be needed in cases where school children swallow harmful materials. The nurse has to offer emergency care services before other services such as tracheostomy are conducted by a better facilitated hospital.
Parents often have special medical needs for their children. The school nurse may also identify specific health needs for a given student. The nurse has to offer professional advice and opinion to parents in any of these cases. The nurse should explore options available and float them to the parent. A school nurse offers staff education. The nurse can liaise with the management to identify important topics that should be highlighted during staff education meetings. Issues such as seizure care should be included in staff training since the nurse may be far away when the student collapses requiring immediate care.
It is the responsibility of a school nurse to conduct scoliosis screening for middle school learners. Since the scope of work is quite wide for school nurses, they may be supposed to fix catheters to learners requiring or using them. The nurse is also required to develop safety plans for high-risk students. Such plans are part of documentation that a school nurse should do to ensure her work is well planned. Other duties of a school nurse include monitoring the effectiveness of drugs used in a school setting. Some drugs may be phased out based on their effectiveness and nurse’s recommendation. The school nurse should also serve as a link between the school and external community on matters related to health. If there is an outbreak in the community, it is upon the nurse to identify best practices to protect the school population.
Reference
Hoekstra, B. A., Young, V. L., Eley, C. V., Hawking, M. K., & McNulty, C. A. (2016). School Nurses' perspectives on the role of the school nurse in health education and health promotion in England: a qualitative study. BMC Nursing , 15 (1), 73-81. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-016-0194-y
