Following up on my recent article about the lack of sufficient nurses in public schools, it is difficult to ignore the plethora of articles on the internet detailing how schools, school nurses, teachers, students and parents are coping with a shortage of school nurses. Whether that shortage is actually caused by the nursing shortage itself or by budget cuts at the state and municipal level remains to be fully clear, yet the repercussions of schools without nurses is clear as day. 

In Mississippi---a state with some of the highest rates of diabetes, asthma and childhood obesity in the United States--- having a nurse in every school is often essential to providing rudimentary preventive care to students (and sometimes parents) who are uninsured and often lack primary healthcare. According to an article on the website of the Clarion Ledger, the nurse now in charge of school nursing wants to lower nurse-student ratios and provide each school in Mississippi with a nurse. 

And in Hawaii , the tropical paradise that we mainlanders often feel is out of sight and out of mind, a ratio of one nurse to every 3000 students far outstrips the national standard of one nurse to every 750 students (and the national average of 1,151 students per nurse). 

Summer may be a time for vacations and family fun (for those who can afford such luxuries in these economic times), but for those who are preparing for the coming school year, the health of children is something that cannot be put off until the first bell rings in September.

------

NurseKeith is a writer, blogger, nurse and consultant. Please feel free to visit his blog, Digital Doorway.  

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment