School nursing is defined as “a specialized practice of professional nursing that advances the well-being, academic success and lifelong achievement and health of students. To that end, school nurses facilitate positive student responses to normal development; promote health and safety; intervene with actual and potential health problems; provide case management services; and actively collaborate with others to build student and family capacity for adaption, self-management, self-advocacy, and learning.” (National Association of School Nurses)
Your Childs’s Health Matters
The Dickinson ISD Health Services Staff believes that the ability for students to learn is directly related to the status of their health. Students with unmet health needs will have a difficult time engaging in the educational process. Dickinson ISD understands this and provides a nurse on every campus with the goal of promoting optimum health for all students and staff.
School Nurse Roles and Responsibilities
- Management of communicable illness through infection control measures (early detection, surveillance, reporting, and follow-up) and ensuring immunization compliance
- Provide health assessments and interventions for students and staff who become ill or have an injury
- Screen and evaluate findings in vision, hearing, scoliosis, and acanthosis nigricans (risk assessment for Type II diabetes)
- Administer medications according to district policy
- Case Management and education for students with chronic illness: diabetes, asthma, ADHD
- Provide pediatric special procedures: gastrostomy feedings, tracheostomy care, catheterizations, ventilation treatments
- Coordinates health care status and plans with parents, physicians, and school personnel
- Provide Health Education to students, staff, and parents
- Leadership and support for staff wellness activities
- Individual health counseling with students and staff