Matt Di Carlo examines the latest data about the availability of school nurses, and it is disturbing.
For many children, the school nurse is the only medical care they will get.
Only 41% of schools have a RN on staff.
The data are none too new. They are from 2006, before the economic collapse. Very likely, the number with full-time nurses is even less now.
Now here is a job for the Gates Foundation. Place a Gates nurse in every school in every low-income district. That will raise test scores even more than MET or VAM.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Interesting that you should focus to this subject today. I am always in awe of the
school nurse and what they have to field on a daily bases with the children they
are responsible to care for. In fact, I am about to go to a meeting that we are
providing for our parent’s on Asthma. Children lined up for their treatments. Children
with rotted teeth (I watch the nurse help a child with a broken sliver of a tooth left in his mouth after the rotten part fell out, children needing their Diabetic medication, children with bumps and bruises, children looking for refuge and help for their upset stomach and raised blood pressure or headache. The nurse to come to when they are overwhelmed in class from the rigors of tests or unable to read or having to standup and face a class unprepared because they did not have enough sleep or food, and on and on. The nurse who may be the only medical care some kids will get. The nurse who will teach them hygiene and give them health tips for survival and check their hair and skin for all sort of bite or bug.
Will every Charter School have a nurse? I wonder if they will share a nurse? Hmmm!
A country that worries about the health, welfare, safety, and education of children
falling short on the promise. We have always just expected certain services to be
available no matter what school children attend. The wealthiest nation can’t be us because we are seeing children services diminish before our very eyes. Something
is wrong and I mean terribly wrong!!!!! This is not a new problem, just another one
nobody seemed to care enough about to correct and as usual the children are the
losers.
LikeLike
Ever have a student faint or have a siezure in your class when there is no nurse in the building? That will get your adrenaline pumping.
Remember, it’s for the children.
LikeLike
Yes I have! I had a diabetic who fainted. His mother was upset we only have an aide (not LPN or CNA) in our “clinic.” When she complained, the answer she got was there is a full-time RN at the school for needy children clear across town, and he child can attend there. She was low-income, and could not possibly drive him all that way every day.
I believe he is in danger every day without an RN, as all the students with severe medical conditions are at my school.
LikeLike
Excellent idea, and a great way for the Gates Foundation to make an immediate, positive impact on the welfare of children!
LikeLike
My son is a type1 diabetic and has severe allergies to boot. We share a nurse with three other schools. I have never met our school nurse. I have to hope that the staff can fill in in case of emergency. Having qualified nursing professionals is NOT a luxury.
LikeLike
Watch out when your child goes on field trips. They actually expect me, a teacher with no medical training at the time, to administer medication to children, allow the child to monitor the bl sugar levels, document this properly on the clinic’s forms, and all while taking care of all the other children on the field trip, of course! Administrators actually told me to have my cell phone in case I needed to call 911. I didn’t think to bring fast-acting sugar, (which I know now that I’m a pre-nursing student) so if he fainted he could have needlessly been killed due to my lack of knowledge.
When I tell the parents this, they either come on the field trip or keep the child home.
LikeLike
A few years back they took our nurse out and replaced her with a tech. That same year, I had a child with lupus and I had to tell her what to do. Lucky we starts with the real nurse!
LikeLike
Yes, please Mr. Gates, fund school nurses. Also put some money into dental care, school gardens, music and arts programs, school libraries, and sports equipment. All of these things would have an immediate positive effect on children’s learning.
LikeLike
Our nurse serves three schools also, two elementary and one middle school. She sees many kids at the middle school but is also limited on what she can do. We rarely see her. We get SPED IEP’s and IAP’s with sheet after sheet of how teachers are to respond to medical emergencies. They are nuts if they think we will have time to read all that stuff and then go step by step while we try to find our “spread as thin as a Wal-mart shopping bag” SPED staff.
Some kids have invisible health problems yet we are supposed to know what to do if we find a student unconscious. Ever second counts but they do not have to wear a medical alert badge of some sort so respond means you have to find someone who knows the child. We have 1000 students. Each grade’s set of teachers know their kids but not all the other grades. This is seconds lost in responding to medical emergencies.
Having a full time school nurse should be what parents want. Teachers don’t understand why parents do not demand one.
LikeLike
Let me know how this works out.
FIRE DUNCAN! Hire Ravitch!…
LikeLike
Yes Mr. Gates, nurses are important. And how about a teacher librarian in every school too, or a library in every school? Oh, I forgot. Gates wants only virtual books that reside on any desktop – no librarian needed for that. No more book talks, or reading circles, or pop-up books, or browsing the stacks, or reading when the electricity fails, or individualized reading selection, or…anything a library does for students.
The goal for Gates’ reforms; more online classes, larger classes, fewer and constantly newer teachers. That’s it. Any service that doesn’t involve online tests and more online education will get no help from Gates. Nurses, librarians, music, art…forget it. That just isn’t on their radar.
LikeLike
I am very sorry to report that the ratio of students to certified school nurses in Philadelphia took a big hit since the NASN study was done in 2006. We used to provide the 700:1 ratio but no longer. Luckily for the children in PA we have a law on the books that requires a certified school nurse for every 1,500 students. That ratio was put in place in 1949, long before IDEA and ADA laws went into effect. Our students are more fragile than ever and we have decided as a society that they are not entitled to more health care. As DiCarlo points out, wealthier districts demand more nurse service and are able to pay for it.
Diane, I love the idea of asking the Gates foundation to fund more certified school nurses. Improving the health of our students is a tremendous step to improving attendance and test scores.
LikeLike
In Philadelphia the ratio of school nurses to students has increased dramatically. At one time Philadelphia was in the lead with using only PA State Certified School Nurses. With funding cuts, there has been a dramatic leap backwards.
Unfortunately, not everything a CSN does can be recorded statistically or be reimbursed numerically. Screenings, medications, and recording physicals are only a small part of what a CSN does every day. And, to inner city children who need the most and should get the best, their access to getting both physical and behavioral healthcare problems resolved is severely compromised.
This morning I had just read an article how the children as early as six could were determined to have behavioral problems that led them to violent and non violent crimes. It was a longitudinal study that followed a group of Canadian children into adulthood. If this is any way true, it is just one more indicator that qualified caring professionals are needed to help prevent indicators from becoming a reality.
The question is value of our children and their families. The reality is dollars and cents-and those who make decisions are doing it “for profit” and for “power.” This needs to be stopped. And, the public school system needs to be preserved so all US citizens can get the education they deserve. Lynette Lazarus, RN, MSN, CSN
LikeLike
The lack of school nurses is indeed a serious issue. As a school nurse that covers 5 different schools, I know all too well how devastating it is to not have a full-time nurse in every school. Working with children who have special needs, chronic health disorders, asthma, allergies, diabetes ( to name a few) and also trying to educate children on health promotion can often take even more than one nurse in a school! And as stated before, we also educate and train the staff on various health promotion techniques, interventions and provide updates on in children’s health. And when there is an emergency with the staff or a student, schools rely on our health expertise. Our role continues to expand as children come into the school system with more chronic illnesses than ever before; however, the number of school nurses is decreasing. This is an issue that has too long been ignored, thank you bringing this issue forth!
LikeLike
Do charters have to have a school nurse?
LikeLike
No and in Illinois, they usually “borrow” our services.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on reflectiveteacher2012 and commented:
School reform? Doesn’t need more testing or teacher accountability or even more money. It need to address poverty, equity and access. In my jurisdiction, B.C. , we have 0% school nurses but we don’t honestly need them. We have universal health care-however flawed- kids get basic health services…we have community health nurses, etc but not site based nurses, police or priests. Public education has a cost but so does raising children, inmates and morgues.
LikeLike