MASN - Michigan Association of School Nurses ---- a

School Nursing Agenda for Michigan

The focus of the school nursing agenda for Michigan’s children is concerned with meeting the health needs of students in the school setting. By setting standards of care for meeting the health needs of children, school nurses can impact educational outcomes. The best health and educational outcomes for students can be reached when all students have access to a school nurse. The National Association of School Nurses recommends 750 general education students per school nurse. Minimally, Michigan’s school children should have the opportunity to attend school where policies and procedures reflect current legislative initiatives and health/safety standards.

Michigan’s governmental ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND PROCESSES must be enhanced to ensure:

A state school nurse consultant is a permanent position in the Department of Education and/or the Department of Community Health. The state school nurse consultant can collaborate with other governmental structures to ensure all students attend school where there are high standards for medication storage and administration, communicable disease policies, emergency guidelines, disaster preparedness, guidelines for students with disabilities and chronic illness, guidelines for confidentiality, and a healthy environment.

Michigan must facilitate mechanisms for FINANCING school nursing services:

To case manage chronic illness in the schools, such as, asthma, diabetes, severe food and insect allergies, and other debilitating illnesses.
To ensure safe health care services are provided to students who have individual health care needs during the school day by appropriately trained and supervised staff.
To follow up on screening for health factors, such as, hearing and vision that directly impact learning.
To help students and families access health services, such as, primary care, specialty care, dental services or mental health services.
To provide illness/injury assessments and make appropriate referrals.
To reach many unreachable families by making home visits.
To provide health promotion and disease prevention programs in the schools to both students and their families.
To identify and refer children who are being abused and neglected.

Michigan must facilitate mechanisms for PRIORITIZING CHILDREN’S HEALTH NEEDS and determine how they can be delivered in the school system:

By assessing the current school population’s health status, e.g., number of students with chronic health conditions, number of students taking medication at school, number of students with mental health issues, number of students with hearing and vision abnormalities.
By developing school nursing staffing patterns in school systems that reflect the needs of children.
By funding nursing research concerned with school health.