When most school buildings closed in April, the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) sent out a survey to its members. The nonprofit specialty organization wanted to know what school nurses did during the pandemic.
The findings showed that schoolchildren still worked with students and families, even when they could not see them in person. Of the nearly 5,000 nurses who responded, more than 70 percent said they still helped manage the health plans of students with chronic health conditions. More than 40 percent held virtual office hours, and nearly one-third helped with remote food delivery.
“School nurses have a role to play in whether school meets voluntarily or in person,” said Donna Mazyck, executive director of NASN. They work on their school’s pandemic plans, educate students and staff about COVID-19, and screen the sick – all continuing with their normal task of helping children with chronic illnesses, checking on their students’ emotional health, and caring for them. immunizations are current.
Mazyck spoke with The edge about the role of a school nurse during a pandemic and why they are more important than ever.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
Some schools are planning this year for instruction or at least part-time instruction. How do school children plan for it?
It is working with school facilities, leaders and experts and making sure the physical space is as it should be. They should work with the local health department to make sure there is a plan for the school and what happens if there are students or staff who have symptoms of COVID-19. Nurses make sure that there are isolation rooms and that there is enough ventilation in the buildings. If there are cases of COVID-19, they work with the health department to find close contacts of those cases.
The idea is to make sure that there is a pandemic plan for the school and that there are clear steps to be taken if there is a case. It is also to ensure that there are clear things that would cause the school to close.
That takes resources and funding. NASN believes that federal investment is critical to ensuring that school districts can have the funds they need, and we advocate for that.
About 25 percent of schools do not have nurses. That’s been a concern all along, but is it more worrying this year?
We live in a pandemic of infection. And if you have a pandemic for infection, you want to make sure you have experts in control of infections on hand, that is a school nurse. If a school does not have that, there are things they can do – make sure children wash their hands, keep their distance, wear face masks. But there are in-depth assessments and decisions about health care made by professionals you need at a time like this. With the flu season coming up, and under-vaccination of children in school in general, there is a great potential for an outbreak of infection in a school building. A school would like to have every possible person on board who can help with that.
There is a hole when there is no school nurse in the building to help work through all the problems surrounding infection control.
Some schools have already said they will only be online this fall. How do nurses work with distance students?
They virtually take care of the health and safety needs of students. That could be virtual office visits or something more than telehealth.
For a student who may have type 1 diabetes and is learning how to treat it, schoolchildren could talk to that student on the phone or in a video chat to guide them through the process of checking their blood glucose. For a student with asthma, they could ask her if she was sleeping or if she was coughing to detect if her asthma was controlled. Then they can offer guidance or let them know if they need to log in to their primary care provider. These are things they would do in a normal year, it would just happen over the phone.
One of the important roles that the school sister will play is tackling the problem of under-vaccination for students at present. There were not many visits to doctors in the spring, so many children may be behind schedule. Nurses always check immunization records, and that’s just as important as they are virtual. School nurses can give these recommendations to parents or families, especially to those students who may not have been admitted.
What platforms do school children use to connect with students and families?
In general, it has been over the phone as some of the video conferencing platforms. Some school children also make videos and upload for students about things like how to wear a mask.
School districts or school websites have information on how to connect with nurses. That information is available, and it is absolutely used. That’s what I hear from nurses I’m in contact with. Nurses are the medical professionals who have relationships with students and their families so that they are available.
