Assess The Role Of The School Nurse

The role of the school nurse is vital to the health and welfare of the children, faculty, staff, family and community through advancing the well-being, academic success and lifelong achievement and health of students (NASN, 2012). School nurses are educators, caregivers, advocates, consultants and counselors, the school nurse provides these services to all in their care. Although the bulk of the nurse’s work is done within the school the care provided to those in the nurse’s care impacts the community’s health as a whole. Care is also provided in juvenile facilities, preschools, and daycare centers and at sporting events. There are three levels of prevention through which the school nurse full fills her duties Primary prevention, secondary …show more content…
When providing health care the nurse must assess the severity of illness and treat accordingly. Through rapid and prompt response outbreaks and spread of illness can be averted in the same manner that Mary Pappas (a Private and Parochial School Nurse) was able to identify and report a large-scale outbreak of illness at her school in April 2009, her actions enabled the CDC to put the nation on an H1N1 alert within hours (Chau, E, 2013). Through screenings, the nurse is able to determine the degree of health and prevent outbreaks such a lice and tuberculosis. Screenings also help to improve a child’s education by determining, assessing and treating any problems that have gone uncharted such as comprehension, learning disabilities, sight or hearing, physical or social developmental problems. Advocacy is a huge part of primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, advocacy is protecting the rights and interest of the patients (Chau, E, 2013). At all levels of prevention, the nurse is able to fight for the protection equality and care of the children in his or her care. In the case of maltreatment, many times children cannot speak up for themselves because of fear or inability, but the nurse should be aware of the signs of maltreatment because early identification is crucial in preventing further victimization and recovery cannot occur if maltreatment continues (Child maltreatment, …show more content…
The practice provides and delivers occupational and environmental health and safety programs and services to clients (Stanhope, 2014). The occupational nurse follows OSHA guidelines when providing care in the work place ensuring the safety and health of workers. The nurse provides care for injuries and address health issues that impact the workers which can lead to absenteeism. The occupational nurse follows three levels of prevention similar to that of the school nurse; primary, secondary and tertiary prevention to prevent injuries and minimize