Care Coordination: A Principle of 21st Century School Nursing Practice With a Focus on Case Management

Abstract

The Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice™, created by the National Association of School Nurses (NASN), explains school nursing practice, providing guidance, organization, prioritization, and meaning. This is the second article in a series for The Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice. This article focuses on case management, one of the practice components in the principle of care coordination. Case management focuses on school nurse support of individual at-risk students and collaborative actions to reduce barriers to their academic success. This article will clarify how the terms care coordination and case management are used in context of the Framework and provide an example to help the reader apply the concept to practice. Washington’s School Nurse Case Management Program will serve as a model. The program outlines evidence for effective practice and shares practical examples of how school nurses can implement case management into their daily work. Any school nurse, no matter how large or small their workload, can provide case management.

Chronic Health Condition Management and School-Based Health Centers in New York: Findings From the 2020 School Health Profiles Survey

“…The components involved with case management usually include the development of a plan of care, including team members’ insights, knowledge, attention, and feedback concerning a patient, and in our research, a student. In fact, the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) posits that case management is a collaborative effort to provide and coordinate school health services and communicate with the student's personal life (student, family, and possibly a community-based care provider) and school team (school health providers and educators; Gray et al, 2020).…”

An Evaluation of the Use and Effectiveness of Case Management in Clinical Nursing Education

“…In addition, case management requires nurses to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of patients rather than just deliver a single intervention, ensuring a continuous process of care for patients from hospital to home. In general, effective case management enables patients to understand and obtain high-quality and efficient medical care, 22 , 23 and it also provides an effective, efficient, and economical care strategy for nurses, which has a significant positive impact on the nursing profession. 24 …”

An Evidence-Based Framework for Implementation of a School–Community Partnership

“…These organized and prearranged partnerships offer youth, families, and communities the prospect of developed, deliberate, and reinforced social and emotional health experiences, care coordination, and academic support in the school setting (Institute for Local Government, 2015). Regarding care coordination, a key principle of the National Association of School Nurses' Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice, SCPs are ideal for assisting youth with acute and chronic illness by providing evidence-based interventions and offering skills and education to support youth selfmanagement and academic success (Gray et al, 2020;McCabe, 2020). These partnerships allow for the mutual exchange of knowledge and collaboration of resources and strive for sustainability.…”