Supportive school policies and well-prepared school nurses can best address the needs of students with chronic health conditions. We analyzed nationally representative data from the 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study to examine whether districts with policies requiring that schools provide health services to students with chronic…

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…

It is the position of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) that data on children's deaths in school should be recorded, analyzed and reported at the local, state and national level. The systematic review of data on child deaths is necessary to drive interventions and policies that will decrease mortality from injuries, violence, acute…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to explore utilization of nurse substitutes in the school setting in Illinois. The literature described personnel who staff the school health office in the absence of the school nurse and the barriers to obtaining nurse substitutes. There were no empirical studies conducted on school nurse substitutes in…

A gap in data prevents measurement of the needs of school-age children and the influence of school nursing interventions on student health and education outcomes. Its remedy is in the data collected in school health rooms. A national clinical database describing school health will allow education and health leaders to build evidence-based programs…

There is a gap in the nursing literature regarding children who frequently visit school nurses' offices with recurrent unexplained physical symptoms. A review of the scientific health literature was undertaken to examine the clinical presentation, associated variables, and implications for school nurses regarding children who are frequent school…

School nurses and health office staff have an ethical and legal obligation to protect the integrity of electronic student health records. Various sources, both accidental and malicious, can threaten student health data. School nurses must employ regular and reliable methods to back up student health data.

School nurses and health office employees are the creators and caretakers of legal documentation. School nurses have an ethical and legal obligation to protect the integrity of electronic student health records. Although there are many threats to data integrity, from inadequate hardware to electrical surges, one of the most pervasive threats to…

School nurses used computers in the 1980s, the Internet in the 1990s, and are embracing handheld computers in the first decade of the 21st century to improve their practice. The purpose of this article is to provide information about handheld computers and software applications that school nurses can use in day-to-day, emergency, and disaster…

School nurses are caretakers of a vast amount of sensitive student and family health information. In schools, older computer hardware that previously stored education records is recycled for less demanding student and employee functions. Sensitive data must be adequately erased before electronic storage devices are reassigned or are discarded.…