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TOPIC: Access and utilization of mental health services for Latino children. PURPOSE: As Latino children may experience higher rates of unmet needs, this article examines the current literature for the reasons for the disparity and the barriers to the utilization of mental health services for Latino children. SOURCES: An integrative literature review was undertaken from child psychiatry and nursing. CONCLUSIONS: The literature confirmed a pattern of underutilization of mental health services by Latino children, but did not completely address the reasons for the disparity. Suggested barriers were language and cultural issues. Gaps in the literature include a lack of agreement for definition of a mental health problem and the tools to identify these, insufficient studies into the barriers for Latino children in the access and utilization of mental health services, and cultural and language issues related to Latino research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

While all nurses likely have a resume, most do not have a Curriculum Vitae or CV. CVs are used to provide a complete picture of your professional history. Resumes are crafted to highlight a candidate's fitness for a particular position. In contrast, a CV is a complete record of one's professional career and accomplishments. A CV is a comprehensive document that, along with your education and job history, is a record of all your professional achievements and activities.

Despite the volume of medications that are administered in schools, school nurse guidelines for administering medications in schools lacked the support of empirical literature to guide best practices. Some states issue guidelines that summarize state regulations or dictate the standards and processes. However, state school nursing manuals rely on tradition and professional judgment for suggested medication practices. Medication practices may vary significantly from building to building within a school district. The National Association of School Nurses commissioned a uniform clinical practice guideline (CPG) for the administration of medications in schools based on a systematic review of the literature. The CPG for medications administered in schools provides direction for state school nurse consultants, school districts, and nurses working independently in schools by creating the structure and processes of care to lead to optimal outcomes including increased medication adherence, fewer errors, and decreased morbidity and mortality. The School Nursing Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guideline: Medication Administration in Schools guide school policy and provide evidence for policy changes for state legislation.

Teamwork and communication are critical to ensure safe and quality care for students. A huddle offers the team a daily dedicated time to connect with each other. Huddles are short, regular debriefings designed to engage clinical staff in discussions about existing or emerging safety issues. The huddle was already systematically and uniformly part of the daily practice at Akron Children's Hospital's School Health Services daily schedule prior to COVID-19. The pandemic increased the need for the daily huddle. The fluid and frequently changing guidelines, personal protective equipment, and mitigation considerations has increased nursing anxiety and has made regular communication and daily debriefing even more important. Akron Children's Hospital School Health Services has used huddle for over 10 years with excellent quality, team building, and nurse satisfaction outcomes.

Background: Disasters happen in all communities and negatively impact the health and safety of populations if not well managed. Rural health organizations face greater challenges when implementing emergency preparedness policies and need unique resources to help ensure the health of their communities. The purpose of this article is to describe the development and evaluation of an agricultural simulation scenario designed for rural health organizations., Methods: The agricultural disaster scenario was developed after determining the desired content domains. Forty students from nursing, medicine, public health, and social work participated in a functional simulation using the scenario. Outcomes were measured using a pre-post measurement with one cohort design. Data were analyzed using paired-samples t-tests., Results: Students reported a 30% increase in self-confidence, 38% increase in disaster competence, and 19% increase in interprofessional collaboration competence after the simulation. Statistically significant increases in student scores were noted on all surveys across professions., Conclusion: The agricultural disaster simulation is a valid scenario to use for disaster preparation using emergency operations plans., (© 2021 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently released The Future of Nursing 2020-2030: Charting a path to achieve health equity. The 2021 report emphasized the role of nursing in addressing social determinants of health and inequities, as well as the need for nurses at all levels to work to their full scope of practice. The report harmonizes with the scope of practice outlined in the National Association of School Nurses' Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice. This article outlines how frontline school nurses, state affiliates, and school nurse leaders will adopt the recommendations in their practice and in the schools and communities they serve.

Objective: While data management (DM) is an increasing responsibility of doctorally prepared nurses, little is understood about how DM education and expectations are reflected within student handbooks. The purpose of this study was to assess the inclusion of DM content within doctoral nursing student handbooks., Methods: A list of 346 doctoral programs was obtained from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Program websites were searched to locate program handbooks, which were downloaded for analysis. A textual review of 261 handbooks from 215 institutions was conducted to determine whether DM was mentioned and, if so, where the DM content was located. Statistical analysis was performed to compare the presence of DM guidance by type of institution, Carnegie Classification, and the type of doctoral program handbook., Results: A total of 1,382 codes were identified across data life cycle stages, most commonly in the handbooks' project requirements section. The most frequent mention of DM was in relation to collecting and analyzing data; the least frequent related to publishing and sharing data and preservation. Significant differences in the frequency and location of codes were identified by program type and Carnegie Classification., Conclusions: Nursing doctoral program handbooks primarily address collecting and analyzing data during student projects. Findings suggest limited education about, and inclusion of, DM life cycle content, especially within DNP programs. Collaboration between nursing faculty and librarians and nursing and library professional organizations is needed to advance the adoption of DM best practices for preparing students in their future roles as clinicians and scholars., (Copyright © 2021 Rebecca Raszewski, Abigail H. Goben, Martha DeweyBergren, Krista Jones, Catherine Ryan, Alana Steffen, Susan C. Vonderheid.)

The National Association of School Nurses' (NASN's) data initiative The National School Health Data Set: Every Student Counts! (Every Student Counts!) is getting a new platform! This article reviews what Every Student Counts! is and shares some of the new features of the platform. For more information on NASN's initiative and to learn how school nurses can join the data revolution go to http://nasn.org/everystudentcounts.

Background: The inclusion of data management instruction within nursing doctoral curricula has not been systematically examined., Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the extent of data management education within nursing doctoral programs., Method: Separate surveys were created for DNP (332) and PhD (138) program directors. Survey questions were based on the stages of the UK Data Service Research Data Lifecycle., Results: One hundred and four nursing doctoral program directors responded, a 22% response rate. Sixty-seven (64%) were from DNP programs while 37 (35%) were from PhD programs. Although program directors reported that they were teaching stages of the research data lifecycle, data management is mostly being taught through individual mentoring or a single lecture within a required course, and that students' project data were not being preserved., Conclusions: Nursing doctoral programs need to develop consistent data management education, build an awareness of data policies, and clarify student project data sharing and ownership., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

COVID-19 has affected the 2020-2021 school year for everyone and thrust school nurses into the spotlight. Some school nurses are too overwhelmed to even think about data; others want to collect data differently to illustrate the value of the role of the school nurse. This article provides guidance on data collection during this unique time period. The article is based on a blog originally posted on National Association of School Nurses's website.

Hospitals and healthcare systems have nursing informaticists who contribute to quality patient care and safety by managing data and facilitating the use of technology. Schools typically do not employ nurses specifically in positions labeled as nursing informaticists, though the role is critical in the schools. This article highlights the subspecialty of nursing informatics within the school nurse role. Three school nurses will share their use of nursing informatics skills to optimize student health.

Nurses in the 21st-century are expected to be data and information literate and proficient in data management. Nurses graduating from baccalaureate programs must be able to use computers and information systems and apply data and evidence to inform practice. Those competencies are also essential for the entire nursing workforce. That puts the onus on school nurses, school nurse supervisors, school districts, and state affiliates to take responsibility for comprehensive data and information literacy professional development. Fortunately, the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) has anticipated the needs of the membership. NASN included data and information capacity building as a part of The National School Health Data Set: Every Student Counts!, a national standardized data set and data collection initiative.

Strong school-based vision and eye health systems include 12 key components to be implemented before, during, and after the actual vision screening event. The National Center for Children's Vision and Eye Health (NCCVEH) at Prevent Blindness partnered with the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) to provide guidance for school nurses for each of the 12 key components via a Vision and Eye Health webpage on the NASN website ( https://www.nasn.org/nasn-resources/practice-topics/vision-health ). This online resource is designed to support school nurses accountable for vision screening and maintaining the eye health of preschool- and school-age children. This NCCVEH/NASN webpage addresses key activities that provide overall support for a child's vision and eye health-beginning with parent/caregiver education and ending with an annual evaluation of the school's vision and eye health system. NASN School Nurse is publishing information about each of these 12 components. The May 2019 installment provided details about the 12 Components approach as a whole and Components 1 and 2: Family Education and a Comprehensive Communication/Approval Process. The July 2019 edition described Components 3 and 4: Vision Screening Tools and Procedures and Vision Health for Children With Special Health Care Needs. This article describes Component 5: Standardized Approach for Rescreening.

Problem: Stakeholders often misunderstand the role of the school nurse resulting in underutilization or elimination of school nurse positions. Social media and school nurse websites are recommended to increase school nurse visibility and change the public narrative of school nursing., Objective: The objective of this needs assessment is to determine whether school nurses are using web presence to increase their visibility to affect the narrative of school nursing., Method: An evaluation was conducted to determine the presence and content of school nurse websites in 50 schools and their school districts across the nation., Results: Fewer than one third of school nurses have websites, three fourths of districts have a school district health websites, and there was no evidence of a nurse in 10% of the school websites assessed., Anticipated Contribution to Practice: The needs assessment determined that nurses are not maximizing school websites to communicate their role to stakeholders.

The data life cycle starts with defining what data are needed, to collecting, storing, protecting, using, sharing, retiring, and destroying data. A May 2019 NASN School Nurse article, "Data Governance and Stewardship," addressed who is accountable for the data life cycle within a school system. This article will discuss data sharing, the ethics, and the steps that must be taken to share data responsibly. As discussed in the previous article, policies and procedures about data sharing are available in every school district. Frequently, the guidelines pertain only to sharing personally identifiable student information and do not address the sharing of aggregated information for the purposes of needs assessments, priority setting, outcomes measurement, or for advocating for resources or policy changes at the district, state, or national level. Fortunately, guidance of sharing data and crafting data sharing agreements is provided by the Privacy Technical Assistance Center at the U.S. Department of Education. This is the sixth article in the series on data.

Successful vision screening efforts require the implementation of 12 key components of a strong vision health system of care. The National Center for Children's Vision and Eye Health (NCCVEH) at Prevent Blindness partnered with the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) to provide guidance around these 12 components via a Vision and Eye Health webpage on the NASN website ( https://www.nasn.org/nasn-resources/practice-topics/vision-health ). This online resource is organized according to the 12 Components of a Strong Vison Health System of Care to support school nurses accountable for screening the vision of preschool and K-12 students. This NCCVEH/NASN webpage addresses key activities that support a child's vision health-beginning with parent/caregiver education and ending with an annual evaluation of the school's vision health system. Each of these 12 components will be described in NASN School Nurse . The May 2019 installment provided information about the 12 components approach as a whole and details on Family Education and a Comprehensive Communication/Approval Process. This installment describes Components 3 and 4: Vision Screening Tools and Procedures and Vision Health for Children with Special Health Care Needs.

Background: Recent data suggest a significant increase in use of opioids among pregnant women. In the United States, reported rates of neonatal abstinence syndrome increased from 1.5 per 1,000 to 6.0 per 1,000 live births from 2000 to 2013. Use of opioids, both pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic, during pregnancy exposes women and babies to increased risks of adverse health outcomes. Professional organizations recommend addressing the complex needs of women who use opioids during pregnancy., Objective: The purpose is to review the role of nurses in the prenatal setting caring for pregnant women with opioid use disorder., Methods: We conducted a literature search using the CINAHL, PubMed, and PsycInfo electronic databases through January 2018 to identify best practices for referring women to treatment from the prenatal care office. Search terms included "substance use disorder," "pregnancy," "prenatal care," "referral," and "referral pathway.", Results: From our search, 68 abstracts were identified as relevant for review. Eight articles were selected for the analysis based on our focus. The findings assisted in development of our recommendations for nurses., Clinical Implications: During prenatal care, nurses can screen for opioid use disorder, develop positive relationships, and refer to treatment. This care should be based on values-neutral strategies to promote healthy outcomes for pregnant women and their babies.

School nurses collect, manage, and report on school health data, which is covered by student privacy laws. School nurses and other district employees who collect and manage sensitive data must understand their responsibilities throughout the data life cycle. Nurses must identify who is accountable for data governance in their school and the process for influencing data governance policies and procedures. Every school district is accountable for the integrity and the security of the data it collects about students, families, and staff. Data governance encompasses all decisions about data throughout the data life cycle from defining what data are needed, to collecting, storing, protecting, using, sharing, and retiring and destroying data and who is accountable for those decisions. The data governance in schools is prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education, state education departments, and local school districts. The Student Privacy Policy Office at the U.S. Department of Education publishes clear and precise guidance on the treatment of data collected in schools.

The National Center for Children's Vision and Eye Health (NCCVEH) at Prevent Blindness partnered with the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) to provide guidance for school nurses responsible for screening the vision of preschool and K-12 students. Goals of this national partnership are to (1) standardize approaches to vision health, (2) facilitate follow up to eye care for students who do not pass vision screening, (3) provide family/caregiver friendly educational information, and (4) consult with leading pediatric eye care experts to promote evidence-based best practices. The NCCVEH/NASN partnership created a Vision and Eye Health page on the NASN website ( https://www.nasn.org/nasn-resources/practice-topics/vision-health ). This resource is organized according to the 12 Components of a Strong Vision Health System of Care. The 12 components emerged as the NCCVEH considered vision screening from a systems perspective. This systems perspective addresses key activities along the entire spectrum of care that supports a child's vision health-beginning with parent/caregiver education and ending with an annual evaluation of the school's vision health system. Each of these 12 components will be described in 4 installments of NASN School Nurse in 2019. This installment describes the first two components: Family Education and a Comprehensive Communication/Approval Process.

Data collection and use is an integral competency for school nursing practice. The 3S (Student-School Nurse-School Community) Model is a visual representation of how to categorize school health data and identify what data are needed. This article introduces the model and shows a logical progression of how data align to influence outcomes and provides a tool for analyzing school health data.

Photovoice, a community-based approach that is being embraced in school settings, can help to nurture collaborations with youth, particularly adolescents, and engage them in the development of social policy and health promotion projects. Photovoice is an approach that positions school nurses to inspire youth to take ownership of health promotion issues that directly affect them in the school and in their communities. Engaging youth in Photovoice not only allows advocates to directly work with youth but also promotes critical thinking and the exploration of topics that may not otherwise be considered. Photovoice raises awareness about issues through critical dialogue and is well suited to engage youth and provide a channel for youth to assert their voices.

The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) has launched the National School Health Data Set: Every Student Counts! Building on the success of previous school health data collection, this article describes the steps that the Georgia Association of School Nurses takes to promote the collection of data to support the health of Georgia's school-age children. Building a team, engaging stakeholders, mapping a plan of action, and developing the message are described as ways to build the capacity for data collection. Other states and NASN state affiliates may learn from the ideas presented here.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ)-identified individuals, particularly transgender individuals, experience significant health inequities such as increased risk for chronic health conditions and mental health concerns. Discrimination by health care professionals is a major deterrent for LGBTQ individuals to seek health care. The purpose of the article is to offer practice recommendations using targeted community actions to enhance LGBTQ cultural sensitivity in community health care settings. Strategic planning, assessment for readiness to change, environmental strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis, and use of community resources are recommended as part of a basic model for change in a community setting. Outcomes are measured using a cultural competency tool.

The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) is launching a new data initiative: National School Health Data Set: Every Student Counts! This article describes the vision of the initiative, as well as what school nurses can do to advance a data-driven school health culture. This is the first article in a data and school nursing series for the 2018-2019 school year. For more information on NASN's initiative and to learn how school nurses can join the data revolution, go to http://nasn.org/everystudentcounts.

Step Up & Be Counted! (Step Up!) is an innovative project to collect nationally standardized data from the daily documentation of school nurses throughout the United States. Step Up! provides the standardization needed to promote an "apples to apples" analysis of school health resources, interventions, and outcomes across the United States. While some states have collected data for decades and have an effective infrastructure in place, other states are new to data collection and are creating processes to support data collection. Designated State Data Champions have volunteered to collect aggregated de-identified data from school districts throughout their state. The following is a discussion of some of the data collection innovations shared by Designated State Data Champions at the 2017 NASN Annual Conference.