The role of a nurse is crucially significant, especially in school, since the health of children and youth is in absolute priority of government policy. The school nurse contributes to management of chronic health conditions of students during the school day (AAP, 2008). Service of the school nurse is not less important, than the role of any other team member in school. A school nurse is a person, who deals with identification, prevention, and intervention of students’ health problems. Another important role of the school nurse is to provide appropriate health education for students and their families. The function of the nurse to oversee of health intervention and the referrals of diseases’ treatment appears to be one of the prominent ways to foster students’ health.
The importance of the school nurse role and functions leads to the necessity to maximize nurse settings. One of the ways to do it is to develop a School Public Health Protocol to identify the minimum expectations and scope of practice for the school nursing services (CHNIG, 2013). Unification of the school nursing practices on the state and the country levels is a key way to maximize nursing services potential in schools. Nontraditional or alternative health care practices contribute to enriching the school nurse’s functions as well. The nontraditional medical approach does not mean elimination of the traditional health care standards. In contrast, it can complement traditional western (or allopathic) medicine successfully (Tabish, 2008). Nontraditional health practices teach students how to integrate their physical, emotional, and spiritual condition with one another.
The school nurse can use such approaches to nontraditional medicine as acupuncture, techniques of meditation, and herbal supplementations. These practices help students and the school staff to concentrate on educational process, eliminate anxiety, handle stressful situations, and conflicts. Nontraditional health care settings contribute to the improvement of psychological and emotional atmosphere in schools. Thus, such way of maximization of the potential of nursing services appears to be one of the most efficient for schools.
- American Academy of Pediatrics. (2008). Role of School Nurse in Providing School Health Services. Pediatrics, 121(5), 1052-1056.
- Community Health Nurses Initiatives Group. (2013). Healthy Schools, Healthy Children: Maximizing the Contribution of Public Health Nursing in School Settings. Toronto: CHNIG.
- Tabish, S.A. (2008). Complementary and Alternative Healthcare: Is it Evidence-based? Int J Health Sci, 2(1), 5-9.
