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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.

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.

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.

Step Up & Be Counted! (Step Up!) is a joint project of the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) and the National Association of State School Nurse Consultants (NASSNC). The goal of the initiative is to develop a National School Nurse Standardized Data Set that will be used by nurses across the country to uniformly collect data the same way. The data will be used to determine the health of children and youth, the care that is delivered in schools, and the impact of school nurses on academic success and well-being. This article focuses on the role of the Designated State Data Champion in the initiative.

There is a significant gap in meaningful school health data in the current national education and health data sets. Current data sets do not sufficiently capture the number and credentials of school health providers, the health of students who receive care at school, or the outcomes of school nurse interventions. Since 2014, school nurses across the United States have embraced Step Up and Be Counted!: A National Standardized School Nurse Data Set. The goal of Step Up is to collect school nurse data in a standardized, uniform format. Prior to the project, no data were recorded in a uniform manner across states and health services delivery models. Data have been reported for two years on who is delivering health care in school, selected student chronic conditions, and the disposition of students once they leave the school health office. Professional development sessions have been conducted at the national conferences of both the NASN and the NASSNC and at the state level. As the project matures, steps are being taken to increase the number of school nurses and states participating and to assure data accuracy and validity., (© 2016 The Author(s).)

The health and well-being of children who attend school is not collected in any national data sets. To effectively advocate for the health needs of children where they live, learn, and play, it is essential to build a National Uniform School Nurse Data Set. In 2014, school nurses nationwide were invited to join the Step Up and Be Counted! initiative. To prepare nurses for data collection and reporting, an informational website was established, a marketing campaign was launched, and a data collection tool was developed. Trainings were held at the national conferences of both the National Association of School Nurses and the National Association of State School Nurse Consultants, and locally by state school nurse consultants and champions. The goal of the 2014-2015 academic year was to establish the processes for such a large-scale effort. In Year 1, only three initial data sets were collected from participating school nurses from 37 states. The first year yielded much data, and challenges have been identified and addressed., (© 2015 The Author(s).)

Supportive school policies and well-prepared school nurses can best address the needs of students with chronic health conditions. We analyzed nationally representative data from the 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study to examine whether districts with policies requiring that schools provide health services to students with chronic health conditions were more likely to provide funding for professional development (PD) or offer PD to school nurses on those health services than districts without such policies. Compared to districts without certain requirements for health services related to chronic health conditions, districts with those requirements were more likely to provide PD on related topics (for all comparisons, p ≤ .001). For some topics, however, regardless of district requirements, PD was fairly low and suggests the need for increases in the rates at which districts provide PD to support school nurses who deliver services to students with chronic health conditions., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

Many states in the United States have mandated school health screenings for early identification and referral to professional services for a set of health conditions. Healthe Kids, a community-based program, began offering school-based health screenings to Missouri elementary schools in March 2007. The purpose of the article is to provide a description of the Healthe Kids program, including the team members, screening process, and the program's underlying technology. Further, we present data gathered during the first 5 years of the Healthe Kids program in Kansas City, Missouri, and describe improvements to the program from lessons learned and implications to school nurses and health care delivery., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

The National Association of School Nurses and National Association of State School Nurse Consultants Joint Work Group agreed on identified common data points and an initial process for nationwide data collection by school nurses. The emerging process was presented at both the 2014 National Association of School Nurses and the National Association of State School Nurse Consultants annual meetings in San Antonio. The time is now to begin the process for ALL school nurses to collect data to begin building a national school nursing data set. This article is the second of a series and outlines the how, why, and when for collecting identified data indicators. It provides the talking points and collection tool necessary to Step Up and Be Counted!

School nurses collect voluminous amounts of data in a variety of ways and use the data to describe trends in students' health and patterns of illness in the student population or to identify ways to improve care. NASN identified years ago that a national school nurse data set was needed to enable data-driven decision making for the millions of children who attend school each day across the United States. Informal work has been done in the past 5 years in preparation for the current joint NASN/ National Association of State School Nurse Consultants workgroup. This article is the first of a two-part series related to the importance of data and national efforts to develop a uniform data set that all school nurses can collect. Collecting data, and collecting it in the same way as other providers, will demonstrate what school nurses do as well as provide the data necessary for robust research on the impact of school nurses on students' health.

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.

School nurses and health office staff have an ethical and legal obligation to protect the integrity of electronic student health records. Various sources, both accidental and malicious, can threaten student health data. School nurses must employ regular and reliable methods to back up student health data.

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.

There are many Web resources for health professionals seeking guidance to meet the mental health needs of their clients. Some of those resources are specifically designed for professionals working in schools. School nurses participate in assessment teams and contribute to individual education plans to enable students with mental health needs to achieve academic success. Mental health issues in a school setting involve preventive care, as well as providing and advocating for an environment and policies that promote healthy students and school employees. This article identifies valid and reliable mental health Web resources for school nurses.

The use of E-mail in the school setting has become a standard method of communication. E-mail can increase the efficiency of communicating with parents and students. Privacy and security considerations regarding the use of E-mail to transmit health information must be addressed. This article outlines regulations and the best practices for using E-mail in the school health office.

The inevitable merging of the world of managed care and school health services, particularly nursing services, will allow both to benefit from the resulting collaboration. The inclusion of the school nurse in the continuum of health care delivery promotes effective, timely, accessible, cost-effective services for children. Managed care offers an opportunity to bring to prominence the role of the school nurse and to increase school-based health services. School health services staff must begin credentialing, data gathering, and quality improvement activities prior to entering negotiations with managed care organizations. Success of this partnership could result in improved access to health care for millions of underserved school-aged children, greater attention to preventive services, and an optimal setting for health promotion activities leading to improved health for all children.