School Nurses In Demand
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Updated: April 17, 2007
School nurses are responsible for more than cuts and bruises; they are also responsible for every other type of illness.
Dr. Marianne Neighbors, a school nurse advocate says the roles of school nurses have changed, "We`re Band-Aids, hugs, and moms to the children but its also really become more complex of a role."
These days school nurses are dealing with children who have serious illnesses like, diabetes, asthma and mental health. As technology increases, so does the infant mortality rate and some of these children are living with life long health problems.
Neighbors said, "The school has taken on some of the components of health care and the school nurse is head of that system."
Neighbors along with some colleagues started the School Nurse Summer Institute to try and educate and provide information to nurses as their role in the schools increase.
While she said it would be ideal to have a nurse in every school, theres really no funding for it. Just last year legislation passed in Arkansas requiring one school nurse for every 750 students, but the legislation for the funding failed.
In big districts there are about 12 to 15 school nurses but smaller districts usually share one.
