American Academy of Pediatrics recommends full-time nurse in every school

In the June 2016 issue of “Pediatrics,” the American Academy of Pediatrics published a policy statement calling for a minimum of one full-time registered nurse in every school.

In a press release announcing the new policy statement, the AAP said that the role of the school nurse has evolved and become increasingly important since first introduced in the United States more than a century ago, yet school district policies regarding school nurses lack uniformity and should be updated.

Previously, the AAP had supported ratios of 1 school nurse to 750 students in the healthy student population, and a 1:225 ratio for student populations that need daily professional nursing assistance; however, the with the increasingly complex health needs of students, these ratio formulas were determined to be inadequate.

The new policy recognizes the critical role school nurses play in providing surveillance, chronic disease management, emergency preparedness, behavioral assessment, ongoing health education and extensive case management, among other duties. The statement also notes that school nurses are monitoring more students with special needs and potentially life-threatening conditions. And, school nurses participate in such public health arenas as immunization, obesity prevention and substance abuse assessment.

You can read the statement at wsna.to/AAPschoolnurse.