Roles and Responsibilities of School Health Nurse and Its Challenges

Roles and Responsibilities of School Health Nurse

Roles of School Health Nurses

NASN, 2002

• Provides direct healthcare to student & staff.
• Provides leadership for the provision of health services.
• Provides screening and referral for health conditions.
• Promotes a healthy school environment.
• Promotes health.
• Leadership role for health policies and programs.
• Liaison between school personnel, family, community, and health care providers.

Roles and Responsibilities of School Health Nurse

Role 1: Provides direct healthcare to student & staff (Direct care)

Responsibilities

• Performs comprehensive & systematic health assessment.
• Analyzes data to identify health problems.
• Develops individualized healthcare plan and refers.
• Develops individualized healthcare plan and refers for further follow up (children with chronic conditions or special needs).
• Manages and updates plan and communicates it to concerned personnel.
• Provides ongoing health information to students, parents and school authorities.
• Plans, implements and supervises school health screening programs.
• Directs immunization program.
• Documents care & maintains records.
• Reports school health data (identifies health issues).

Role 2: Provides leadership for the provision of health services (Leadership)

Responsibilities

• Development of plans and training staff in emergencies and disasters.
• Maintain confidentiality in communication.
• Maintain confidentiality in communication and documentation.
• Appropriate delegation of care (initial assessment, training, competency validation, supervision, and evaluation).

Role 3: Provides screening and referral for health conditions (Screening and referral)

Responsibilities

• Screening: vision, hearing, posture, body mass index, etc.
• Refer in timely manner.
• Recognize any deviation from normal growth development and behavior.

Role 4: Promote healthy school environment

Responsibilities

• Provides physical and emotional safety
• Implement precaution against blood borne pathogens and infectious diseases pathogens and infectious diseases
• Monitors immunization
• Reports communicable diseases
• Assesses the physical environment (playground, indoor air quality, review illness or injury)
• Participates in developing a plan for prevention and management of hazards
• Participates in developing a plan for prevention
• Assesses emotional environment of school (bullying, violence, suicide prevention plan)

Role 5. Promotes Health

Responsibilities

• teaches children, parents, teachers, and communities about health.
• creates statistical reports on government agencies and other health promotion initiatives.
• develops a school health plan in collaboration with faculty, students, parents, and other professionals after assessing health needs.
• helps to create a curriculum for health education.
• aids in the creation of health education.
• serves as an example of a healthy lifestyle.

Role 6: Leadership Role for health policies and programs

Responsibilities

• a health specialist in the educational system,
• the person who is in charge of creating and evaluating school health policies, procedures, and standing orders Policies might contain.
• protection and promotion of health,
• management of chronic illness,
• programs for school health coordination,
• policy on school wellbeing,
• Disaster and crisis management,
• treatment of medical emergencies,
• Intervention and protection for mental health,
• treatment of acute sickness,
• acts as a catalyst for change in school nursing procedures and health initiatives.
• Applying critical thinking, time management, and problem-solving abilities to care management,
• creates documents and reports (legal, regulatory and policy requirements),
• carries out analysis and research on school health services.
• the control and prevention of infectious diseases.

Role 7: Liaison between school personnel, family, community, and health care providers.

Responsibilities

• acts as a bridge between the home, the community, and the school,
• a working connection should be established with pediatricians in order to guarantee the implementation of tailored health programs.
• uses written letters and the phone to interact with family,
• ensures anonymity while speaking with community health organizations and providers.
• creates ties with local organizations to advance community health,
• Setting up a daily diary to record pupils who visit the nurse's office or require special care serves as a resource person for improving health.

                                                                                                                                            (NASN, 2002; AAP, 2008; HAAD 2010)

Other Responsibilities: Accountability

• Seeks guidance in situations beyond scope of practice.
• Accepts accountability for own actions and decision making.
• Practices within the scope of practice.
• Practices within the scope of practice.
• Maintains competency.