Continuing Education: Improving Perceived Competence in School Nurses

Abstract

An investigator-designed survey was used to determine if attendance at specific continuing education programs increased the perceived competence of school nurses who enrolled and completed the programs. Respondents were queried about the general content of six courses offered by the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services in conjunction with the University of Missouri-Columbia Sinclair School of Nursing. Specific content areas were mental health concerns, suicide prevention, diabetes management, asthma management, seizure disorders, and developing clinical skills as they pertained to school-age children. Comparing a sample of school nurses who had attended the programs with a group whom had not, a statistically significant difference was found in the participant group who reported higher self-perceived competence than the nonparticipant group in all content areas. Results of the study suggest that school nurses who attend specific continuing education programs feel more competent in practice than nurses who do not attend.

Using the Health Belief Model to Understand School Nurse Asthma Management

“…Providing asthma education to school nurses was successful in increasing self-efficacy among school nurses (Bullock, Libbus, Lewis, & Gayer, 2002). Asthma action plans increased their confidence in providing care for the student with asthma.…”

Supporting Student Mental Health: The Role of the School Nurse in Coordinated School Mental Health Care

“…Limited efforts to support school nurses in their mental health roles typically have involved educational programs to enhance their skills in identifying and treating mental health problems in youth (Adelman, Taylor, Bradley, & DeStefano, ; Buckland, Rose & Greaves, ; Clarke et al., ; Delaney & Belmonte‐Mann, ; Hootman, Houck, & King, ). Results have been promising, with nurses self‐reporting increased competence in mental health identification and treatment skills (Bullock, Libbus, Lewis, & Gayer, ; Clarke et al., ; Hootman et al., ), improved ability to measure and monitor mental health challenges, and decreased job stress (Clarke et al., ).…”

“…Although findings highlight the potential benefits of professional development targeting the mental health competencies of school nurses, they lack several characteristics that would support their uptake, generalizability, and impact. Namely, most programs consist of educational training on a specific subject (e.g., suicide prevention) and lack training on common practice elements that would allow nurses to apply their skills more broadly (Bullock et al., ; Clark et al., ; Delaney, & Belmonte‐Mann, ; Reutzel et al., ). In addition, most programs do not include implementation support to help school nurses use the skills they have learned, nor do they provide access to mental health professionals who can be consulted in the event of acute mental health needs or complex clinical presentations.…”

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the H.A.N.D.S.SM Program

“…In order to increase the school nurses' level of competence and their ability to teach others, it is necessary for nurses to receive CE that provides them with evidence-based research that can easily be incorporated into practice. In general, attending CE programs by nurses has been found to increase perceived competency in comparison to those who did not attend (Bullock, Libbus, Lewis, & Gayer, 2002). When providing care for students with diabetes, school nurses need to become competent in their roles so that they are able to develop and implement a student's IHP and ECP in the school setting while overseeing and coordinating other school personnel (NDEP, 2010; ADA, 2014b).…”