School Nursing Practice Today: Implications for the Future

Abstract

School nurses provide health care services to children in a complex environment. School nurses in Delaware established Strategic Planning and Research Committees to assist them in meeting the challenges of providing quality school health care. The small size of the state gave the researcher the opportunity to survey all currently practicing school nurses in public, private, and parochial settings. In this descriptive study, school nurses were asked to identify activities in their daily practice in five areas: administrative, educational, clerical, supportive, and physical. School nurses were asked to rate the frequency at which they performed these activities and to assess their perceived level of competence in the activities. Analysis of the surveys returned identified areas of common practice as well as areas of development and implementation of new school nursing skills.