What Does It Take To Be a School Nurse?

Abstract

Answering the question, what does it take to be a school nurse, starts with reflecting personally on my own story. I am a graduate of a diploma nursing program, and my first job was at a public health department where I was based in a public school to do district nursing, which included school nursing services to the school. I was the only nurse in the district office without at least a bachelor of science in nursing (BSN). I was hired because I was enrolled in a BSN completion program, and there was a position to fill. I had great experience in my diploma school in acute pediatrics, but not one of the students in the school needed that expertise. The school was in a very poor area, and the students and families for the most part were rural migrants having come to the city for work. Problems included malnutrition, dental problems, lack of follow through on vision and hearing screening, immunization refusal, health illiteracy, child abuse, and poor access to health care. I was totally dependent on my mentor and more educated peers. The first step of the six "As" of evidence-based practice is to "Ask the question" (Yonkaitis & Maughan, 2018). Let me tell you, I did not know enough to ask a question or, in fact, to be a school nurse. Subsequently with the completion of the BSN, MSN, and PhD, and from my initial experience, I champion the preparation of the school nursing workforce! The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) calls for the BSN from an accredited college or university for entry into the practice of school nursing (https://schoolnurse net.nasn.org/blogs/nasn-profile/2017/03/13/education-licen sure-and-certification-of-school-nurses). The scope and standards of practice guide school nursing practice (NASN, 2017). Why are the baccalaureate and scope and standards important? The baccaluareate in nursing is important because as a profession, nursing must identify and define its own necessary preparation rather than leaving preparation requirements to some other discipline. Nursing education programs are accredited by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) or by the National League for Nursing (NLN). The accreditation criteria distinguish curricula outcomes for diploma, associate degree, and baccalaureate in nursing, all of which prepare graduates to be licensed as registered nurses (RN). BSN content goes beyond direct care to include population health, using evidence for practice and quality improvement. The scope of practice at different educational levels is spelled out in scope of practice publications developed by nursing members of the American Nurses Association (ANA). The scope for all RNs is: