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The Power of One

Ten Things School Nurses Can Do to Advocate for School Nurse Positions

Gerri Harvey, RN, M.Ed., NCSN

Past President New Hampshire School Nurses Association

School nurses love our nursing autonomy and it is one of the joys of the school nurse role. But never let your autonomy become professional isolation. Yes, you know you are doing a good job, but it is easy to become invisible to everyone except the children. Attend staff meetings. Meet with nurses in your district and turn in an agenda and minutes of those meetings to your administrators and superintendent. Make sure your agenda and your minutes are problem and solution-focused, not complaining, venting or an attempt to embarrass anyone. Every school nurse leader you know got there by understanding that autonomy and isolation are not the same thing.

Nurture your relationship with your principal and your superintendent. This is done by communicating, by being proactive with health information that you make sure you stay tuned to and by serving on committees where your unique professional skills will be highlighted. This is done by offering well-thought out and well-crafted solutions. This is done by taking the lead around health policies in your district and your building. Chances are, neither of these busy people will be inviting you to meet. Initiate those meetings, keep them focused and informative, and don’t tell them all you do, tell them all they are get.

Collaborate with other school nurses in your district, in your state and nationally. Meet, problem-solve, network, mentor each other, support one another, learn from each other, but most of all, have a common voice. Experienced school nurses know that when one of you looks good, you all look good, and one of you looks bad, you all look bad. The best school nurses help one another to be best, because our professional specialty depends upon it, and we really are all in this together.

Have a web page on your school district server and keep it updated, helpful, and informative. It will be read by the school board that employs you, the parents and taxpayers who support you: it is 21st century PR that every school nurse needs. If you have been using the excuse that you are just not very tech savvy, it is time to learn; don’t let yourself become obsolete. The internet is a tool every school nurse should be using to advocate for her role.

Attend school nurse-specific workshops. Here’s why: nursing workshops are good, and are focused on clinical skills. School nursing workshops are specifically designed to help you transition those skills into a non-medical school setting. Being super nurse does you no good if you cannot be a super school nurse.

Professionalize your image. Do not promote the cutsie nurturing-angel-school-mommy-who-gives-hugs image so many school nurses allow to define them. Sure, we are nice people and do those things, but first and foremost, we are educated, highly skilled professionals who save lives, both directly and indirectly every single day.

Never, ever say, in the presence of any educator, “ In nursing school I was trained to…..” or refer to your nursing education as nurses' training. Because to an educator’s ear, the word training is less than being educated. Training is for support staff and personnel less highly qualified than they. Practice saying this instead: “ I am educated and knowledgeable in evidence-based best practice and in my nursing judgment, I have decided that I will…..”

Embrace your role as a leader. You are not “just a school nurse” in a lesser position of influence than a teacher or a principal. You are a leader in identifying, managing, minimizing and removing health-related barriers to learning, because that is how having a school nurse supports the mission of education. And the mission of education is the bottom line in why schools hire school nurses. When you accept that being a leader is part of your role, you will project a different image to everyone around you.

Know the rules that govern your practice. Are school nurses mandated in your state? Are schools allowed to replace you with an aid or an EMT? Are you accountable to the Board of Nursing or to the Department of Education? How do your school’s health-related policies impact your liability? What is the national recommendation for school nurse:student ratio? Where can school nurses find resources for evidence-based practice? Why does it matter? Is school nursing a specialty or simply general nursing that takes place in a school? If you cannot answer every one of these questions with 100 % assurance, you are not yet in the best position to advocate for your school nurse position.

Belong to and support your state school nurse association because when the rubber hits the road, they will be there to support you, but they need to know who you are and what you need before you are in crisis mode. Ask for what you need: the answers to the above questions; mentorship; workshops; resources; support. Every state has a school nurses’ association which is an organization comprised of your school nurse peers who volunteer their time. Their sole reason for existing is to promote and advocate for school nursing in your state.

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