School Health: A Way to the Future?

Abstract

There is a need for rigorous research documenting the important role of school nurses in facilitating positive health outcomes among students. Poorly managed care can affect student absenteeism rates, which are associated with academic performance and school funding, and students in underresourced schools are at particularly higher risk of suffering chronic conditions (e.g., asthma, diabetes) that necessitate proper care and management. The San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) Nurse Demonstration Project was developed as a five-year endeavor to expand school nursing and formally link school nurses to a school-based health clinic. The initiative provides for full-time school nurses at four elementary and middle schools in SJUSD, and a nurse practitioner at School Health Clinics of Santa Clara County. The objectives are to: (1) improve access to primary care and prevention services, specifically asthma and chronic condition management and (2) facilitate the establishment of a medical home for students. Evaluation of the project employs a mixed methods research design, including a logic model, an intervention and control study design (comparing outcome measures in the four demonstration schools with five “control” schools), parent, teacher, and school administrator feedback, systematic nurse reports, and quantitative analysis of school health and administrative data, including health conditions and absenteeism information. Key findings in Phase I of the project are discussed, including improvement in screening and referrals, follow-up care among students with asthma, and mean days absent due to illness. With increasing budget cuts to public schools, documenting the impact of full-time school nurses will remain crucial in leveraging support and resources for school health services. Findings of this project indicate that school nurses provide valuable services and could be a major player in providing and coordinating effective management and prevention of chronic disease among children.

Citation

Rodriguez, E., Austria, D. and Landau, M. (2011), "School Health: A Way to the Future?", Wejnert, B. (Ed.) Democracies: Challenges to Societal Health (Research in Political Sociology, Vol. 19), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 27-41. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0895-9935(2011)0000019006