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Eighty-four percent of children with food allergies have a reaction in school, and 25% of first food reactions occur in schools. An evaluation was conducted comparing food allergy emergency plans to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network's (FAAN) Food Allergy Action Plan. Of the 94 respondents, 60 provided food allergy emergency plans for comparison. Although two-thirds used food allergy plans, only 15% used the current FAAN plan. Plans were missing essential components, including emergency contact information, medication administration instructions, and health history information. School nurses must adhere to current clinical guidelines to provide an accurate resource for personnel in charge of a food allergy reaction in school. Professional associations and state school health agencies must create and market a resource that provides easy, one-stop access to current best-practice guidelines and tool kits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School nurses used computers in the 1980s, the Internet in the 1990s, and are embracing handheld computers in the first decade of the 21st century to improve their practice. The purpose of this article is to provide information about handheld computers and software applications that school nurses can use in day-to-day, emergency, and disaster situations. Handheld computers help school nurses to make decisions based on accurate and up-to-date information, and to practice evidence-based nursing. Evidence-based nursing is the process by which nurses make clinical decisions using the best available research evidence, their clinical expertise, and patient preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School nurses are caretakers of a vast amount of sensitive student and family health information. In schools, older computer hardware that previously stored education records is recycled for less demanding student and employee functions. Sensitive data must be adequately erased before electronic storage devices are reassigned or are discarded. State and federal laws must be considered when permanently destroying personally identifiable student information. To fulfill their ethical and legal responsibilities, school nurses must be aware of record retention and data destruction policies and procedures for both paper and electronic records. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Question and Answer (Q&A) article addresses practice issues related to school health records and school nursing documentation that were posed by school nurses in the field. Specifically, the questions addressed concern the following: education records, medication privacy issues, sharing of sensitive health information, privacy of individual student logs, use of record access logs, and the use of spreadsheets and home computers for creating student records. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Family Educational Records and Privacy Act (FERPA), and other laws are addressed as appropriate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since April 2003, school nurse and school health officials have been clamoring for guidance on how the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and the Family Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA) interface in the school environment. This article provides an up-to-date explanation of how school health leaders are interpreting the practical implications of the federal privacy laws. With the attention and scrutiny given to personally identifiable health information in all settings, it is imperative for school nurses, school administrators, and school attorneys to revisit policies and procedures for protecting the privacy of student and family health information in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequently, a nurse's first and only contact with a graduate school, legislator, public health official, professional organization, or school nursing colleague is made through e-mail. The format, the content, and the appearance of the e-mail create a virtual first impression. Nurses can manage their image and the image of the profession by communicating electronically in a manner appropriate for the professional role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]