National Association of School Nurses

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The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) is an American organization that releases guidance on the role of school nursing and recommends minimum standards for the profession. [1] It develops education programs for its members, publishes position statements and issue briefs on relevant subjects, and uses advocacy to increase support for school nursing. [2]

Contents

History

In 1968, the National Education Association created the Department of School Nurses to advance the profession of school nursing. Through the 1970s, each US state created its own association of school nurses under the umbrella of the Department of School Nurses. In 1979, the program formally split from the National Education Association, incorporating to become the National Association of School Nurses. [2]

Principles of school nursing

In its 2016 Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice, the NASN established five principles of school nursing: [3] [4]

  1. Care coordination: student health should be integrated with education plans, direct care, and case management
  2. Leadership: promoting advocacy for health care and education reform, policy development, and school nurse funding
  3. Quality improvement: supporting the initiatives that have the greatest impacts on students' health and education outcomes
  4. Community and public health: school nurses should work to improve education and health outcomes at the level of individuals and populations; school nurses should address social determinants of health such as students' home environments
  5. Standards of practice: School nurses should adhere to clinical guidelines, ethics codes, and evidence-based practices

Publications

NASN publishes a peer-reviewed journal, NASN School Nurse , which releases six issues annually. [5] It also publishes a weekly newsletter for its members. [6]

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The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is an American professional association of pediatricians, headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It maintains its Department of Federal Affairs office in Washington, D.C.

School nursing

School nursing, a specialized practice of public health nursing, protects and promotes student health, facilitates normal development, and advances academic success. School nurses, grounded in ethical and evidence-based practice, are the leaders that bridge health care and education, provide care coordination, advocate for quality student-centered care, and collaborate to design systems that allow individuals and communities to develop their full potentials. A school nurse works with school-aged children in the educational setting. Students experiencing illness or injury during the school day often report to the school nurse for assessment. Administering routine medications, caring for a child with a virus, or stabilizing a child until emergency services arrive after a more serious injury may all be a part of the job requirements. School nurses are well positioned to take the lead for the school system in partnering with school physicians, community physicians, and community organizations. They facilitate access to Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program to help families and students enroll in state health insurance programs and may assist in finding a medical home for each student who needs one.

Nurse practitioner Mid-level medical provider

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Canadian Nurses Association

The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA), known in French as the Association des infirmières et infirmiers du Canada (AIIC), is the national professional association representing registered nurses, nurse practitioners, licensed and registered practical nurses, registered psychiatric nurses and retired nurses across all 13 provinces and territories in Canada. CNA advances the practice and profession of nursing to improve health outcomes and strengthen Canada's publicly funded, not-for-profit health system. CNA represents Canadian nursing to other organizations and to governments nationally and internationally. It gives nurses a strong national association through which they can support each other and speak with a powerful, unified voice. It provides nurses with a core staff of nursing and health policy consultants and experts in other areas such as communications and specialty certification. CNA's active role in legislative policy influences the health care decisions that affect nursing professionals every day. It has published a large number of documents, including the Code of Ethics for Registered Nurses.

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Health advocacy or health activism encompasses direct service to the individual or family as well as activities that promote health and access to health care in communities and the larger public. Advocates support and promote the rights of the patient in the health care arena, help build capacity to improve community health and enhance health policy initiatives focused on available, safe and quality care. Health advocates are best suited to address the challenge of patient-centered care in our complex healthcare system. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defines patient-centered care as: Health care that establishes a partnership among practitioners, patients, and their families to ensure that decisions respect patients’ wants, needs, and preferences and that patients have the education and support they need to make decisions and participate in their own care. Patient-centered care is also one of the overreaching goals of health advocacy, in addition to safer medical systems, and greater patient involvement in healthcare delivery and design.

Patient advocacy is an area of specialization in health care concerned with advocacy for patients, survivors, and caregivers. The patient advocate may be an individual or an organization, often, though not always, concerned with one specific group of disorders. The terms patient advocate and patient advocacy can refer both to individual advocates providing services that organizations also provide, and to organizations whose functions extend to individual patients. Some patient advocates work for the institutions that are directly responsible for the patient's care.

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Nursing shortage

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Gerontological nursing Specialty of nursing pertaining to older adults

Gerontological nursing is the specialty of nursing pertaining to older adults. Gerontological nurses work in collaboration with older adults, their families, and communities to support healthy aging, maximum functioning, and quality of life. The term gerontological nursing, which replaced the term geriatric nursing in the 1970s, is seen as being more consistent with the specialty's broader focus on health and wellness, in addition to illness.

Nursing Health care profession

Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health care providers by their approach to patient care, training, and scope of practice. Nurses practice in many specialties with differing levels of prescription authority. Nurses comprise the largest component of most healthcare environments; but there is evidence of international shortages of qualified nurses. Many nurses provide care within the ordering scope of physicians, and this traditional role has shaped the public image of nurses as care providers. Nurse practitioners are nurses with a graduate degree in advanced practice nursing. They are however permitted by most jurisdictions to practice independently in a variety of settings. Since the postwar period, nurse education has undergone a process of diversification towards advanced and specialized credentials, and many of the traditional regulations and provider roles are changing.

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Holistic nursing

Holistic nursing is a way of treating and taking care the patient as a whole body which involves physical, social environment, psychological, cultural and religious beliefs. There are many theories that support the importance of nurses approaching the patient holistically and how education on this are there to support the goal of holistic nursing. The important skill to be used in holistic nursing would be communicating skills with patients and other practitioners. These emphasizes that patients being treated would be treated not only their body but also mind and spirit. Holistic nursing is a nursing speciality concerning the integration of one's mind, body, and spirit with his or her environment. This speciality has a theoretical basis in a few grand nursing theories, most notably the science of unitary human beings, as published by Martha E. Rogers in An Introduction to the Theoretical Basis of Nursing, and the mid-range theory Empowered Holistic Nursing Education, as published by Dr. Katie Love. Holistic nursing has gained recognition by the American Nurses Association (ANA) as a nursing specialty with a defined scope of practice and standards. Holistic nursing focuses on the mind, body, and spirit working together as a whole and how spiritual awareness in nursing can help heal illness. Holistic medicine focuses on maintaining optimum well-being and preventing rather than just treating disease.

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References

  1. American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health; Magalnick, H.; Mazyck, D. (2008). "Role of the School Nurse in Providing School Health Services". Pediatrics. 121 (5): 1052–1056. doi: 10.1542/peds.2008-0382 . PMID   18450912. S2CID   45806545.
  2. 1 2 "Our History". National Association of School Nurses. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  3. Kolbe, Lloyd J. (2019). "School Health as a Strategy to Improve Both Public Health and Education". Annual Review of Public Health. 40: 443–463. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-040218-043727 . PMID   30566386.
  4. Maughan, Erin D.; Bobo, Nichole; Butler, Sarah; Schantz, Shirley (2016). "Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice". NASN School Nurse. 31 (1): 45–53. doi:10.1177/1942602X15618644. PMID   26739934. S2CID   26579648.
  5. "NASN School Nurse". SAGE journals. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  6. "How the National Association of School Nurses is preparing to care for grieving students this year". New York Life. Retrieved 25 August 2020.