Championing School-Located Influenza Immunization: The School Nurse's Role

Abstract

According to the 2008 recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, influenza vaccine should be administered on an annual basis to all children aged 6 months through 18 years. School-age children are more likely than any other age group to be infected with influenza, and young children are at high risk for hospitalization resulting from influenza-related complications. Given children's pivotal role in transmission of influenza to their schoolmates, household contacts, and members of their communities, it has been suggested that routinely vaccinating children against the disease might reduce the burden of disease in the US population as a whole. School-located vaccination clinics could go a long way toward improving the rates of pediatric influenza immunization and enhancing the pandemic preparedness of communities. School nurses are urged to consider ways in which they can help advocate for, plan, and/or implement school-located influenza vaccination clinics.

Elementary School–Located Influenza Vaccine Programs

“…Therefore, it has become important to consider the perspectives of key stakeholders, including teachers and school administrators, to fully appreciate these programs. Most published anecdotal reports describe SLIV programs only from the perspectives of school nurses and other health care professionals (HCPs; Borja, Amidon, Spellings, Franzetti, & Nasuta, 2009; Carpenter et al, 2007; Effler et al, 2010; Hull & Ambrose, 2011; Hull, Frauendienst, Gundersen, Monsen, & Fishbein, 2008; King, 2006; King et al, 2005; Li, Freedman, & Boyer-Chu, 2009; Mears, Lawler, Sanders, & Katz, 2009; Ransom, 2009; Wiggs-Stayner et al, 2006).…”

Implementing and Sustaining School-Located Influenza Vaccination Programs

“…Strong community partnerships often exist for schools, and, when necessary, schools can cultivate or establish new relationships with other school districts, neighborhood clinics, nonprofit foundations, local medical societies, large child care centers, and community-based organizations (Ransom, 2009). Neighborhood private or nonprofit medical providers may want to reduce the burden of immunizing all their patients by partnering or supporting local SLIV programs (Li, Freedman, & Boyer-Chu, 2009). It has been documented that school nurses in other jurisdictions have been successful in developing easily reproducible and efficient SLIV programs by collaborating with the local medical community and VFC programs (Borja, Amidon, Spellings, Franzetti, & Nasuta, 2009).…”

Pandemic and Pedagogy: Elementary School Teachers’ Experience of H1N1 Influenza in the Classroom

“…The majority of teachers interviewed and those responding to the survey indicated they felt responsible for infection control practices in their classroom. The role of schools in the transmission and prevention of infectious disease has been written about widely (Stephenson, Barrios, Cordell, Delozier, Gorma, Koenig, Odum, Poider, Randolph, Shimabukuo & Singelton, 2009;Li, Freedman & Boyer-Chu, 2009;Patterson, Durrheim & Tuyl, 2009;Hua, 2010). However, no research is available on teachers' experience of acting as a health protection resource in controlling communicable diseases (Wong, Cheng & Lo, 2010).…”