Communication Between Schools Nurses and Health Care Providers on Students with Asthma: An Integrative Review

School-based asthma programs have been proven to lessen the burden of pediatric asthma. There is a lack of successful care coordination between school nurses and primary care providers. This review examined strategies to increase communication and identified gaps in the literature. Databases, including PubMed, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Embase, and The Cochrane Library, were searched to identify relevant articles. This review included 12 articles consisting of randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, mixed method studies, qualitative studies, and other non-research articles. Four key findings emerged, including limited availability of asthma action plans, inclusion of parents in the communication triad, school nurse outreach to providers, and improved communication leads to positive outcomes for students with asthma including decreased use of emergency medication and increased self-management of asthma. Further research is needed to develop evidence-based interventions that can be implemented to improve communication between school nurses and primary care providers.

Data Fidelity: Building Credible Reports

Clean, accurate data, also known as data fidelity, support school nurses' professional credibility in the school setting by allowing them to report their work and outcomes to important stakeholders. School nurses collect data every day through documentation, creating an essential record of the health needs of students and how school nurses meet those needs. To report these data effectively, school nurses should use standard definitions, technology, or standardized forms and review their data regularly to maintain accurate data. All school nurses, no matter how they document, should be thinking of data fidelity. This is the fourth article in the 2018-2019 NASN School Nurse article series on data.

Use of the Worklife and Levels of Burnout Surveys to Assess the School Nurse Work Environment

Previous research regarding burnout in acute care settings revealed that positive work environments increase job satisfaction, decrease staff turnover, and improve patient outcomes. However, few studies address burnout among school nurses. The purpose of this study was to describe the relationship between the school nurse practice environment, school nurses’ levels of burnout, and perceived sources of work stress. A cross-sectional sample of 100 registered nurses completed a web-based version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Areas of Worklife Survey. Identified stressors were entered into regression models to determine associations with levels of burnout. Burnout is significantly associated with all Areas of Worklife subscales. School nurses who reported satisfactory work environments experienced little to no burnout. This study provides insights into the domains of work that can cause burnout among school nurses and provides evidence that can inform school leadership and policy makers on ways to promote healthy work environments.

Step Up and Be Counted! Update: The National Standardized School Nurse Data Set

There is a significant gap in meaningful school health data in the current national education and health data sets. Current data sets do not sufficiently capture the number and credentials of school health providers, the health of students who receive care at school, or the outcomes of school nurse interventions. Since 2014, school nurses across the United States have embraced Step Up and Be Counted!: A National Standardized School Nurse Data Set. The goal of Step Up is to collect school nurse data in a standardized, uniform format. Prior to the project, no data were recorded in a uniform manner across states and health services delivery models. Data have been reported for two years on who is delivering health care in school, selected student chronic conditions, and the disposition of students once they leave the school health office. Professional development sessions have been conducted at the national conferences of both the NASN and the NASSNC and at the state level. As the project matures, steps are being taken to increase the number of school nurses and states participating and to assure data accuracy and validity.

Healthe Kids: an assessment of program performance and participation

Many states in the United States have mandated school health screenings for early identification and referral to professional services for a set of health conditions. Healthe Kids, a community-based program, began offering school-based health screenings to Missouri elementary schools in March 2007. The purpose of the article is to provide a description of the Healthe Kids program, including the team members, screening process, and the program's underlying technology. Further, we present data gathered during the first 5 years of the Healthe Kids program in Kansas City, Missouri, and describe improvements to the program from lessons learned and implications to school nurses and health care delivery.

Harnessing the power of student health data: Selecting, using, and implementing electronic school health documentation systems

School nurses manage an immense amount of student health information, making electronic documentation systems essential to provide effective care for students. This article describes the elements of and rationale for using an electronic documentation system, the use of standardized nursing languages, and strategies for successfully implementing an electronic documentation system.