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The professional experiences of school nurses who work outside of urban areas are not often described. We used data from a 2019 statewide survey of school nurses to describe differences between the urban and non-urban (urban cluster and rural) school nurse workforce in New Mexico. Non-urban school nurses were twice as likely as urban nurses to provide clinical services to multiple school campuses ( P   <  .001) and more likely to serve both elementary and secondary school settings ( P   =  .002). They were less likely than urban school nurses to be bachelor's prepared, or to have received recent continuing education on diabetes ( P   <  .001), reproductive health ( P  = 0.02), LGBQ+ and transgender student health ( P   <  .001, for each), and suicide risk assessment and screening ( P   =  .012). Our findings underscore concerns about geographic differences in the school nursing workforce in terms of educational preparation and student access that could potentially limit the school nurse role in advancing child health equity., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

The National School Nurse Workforce Study 2.0 describes the demographic characteristics and distribution patterns, school nursing models and activities, and practice environment among self-reported public school nurses in the United States. A random sample of U.S. public schools was surveyed, stratified by region, school level, and urban/rural locale. A total of 2,827 schools responded, yielding a 38.1% response rate. Using these data, we estimate 78,869 full-time equivalents of school nurses, with 65,052 registered nurses (RN) and 13,817 licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPN/LVN). Findings indicate school nurse distribution differences by region, locale, and income. The predominant model of school nursing practice was the RN only, followed by the RN and LPN model. In general, school nurse respondents felt supported by school staff and parents. Less than half of survey respondents stated they were supervised by an RN. Research, policy, and school nursing practice implications are discussed., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Many school nurses experienced increased work burden and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. This analysis examined data from a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cross-sectional, nationwide survey of school nurses in March 2022 to examine associations between school nurses' ability to conduct their core responsibilities and selected nurse and school factors among school nurses during the 2021-2022 school year and COVID-19 pandemic. Perceived adequate staffing and financial compensation reduced the odds of reported difficulties across all core school nursing tasks. Nurses without a registered nurse license and with higher caseloads were more likely to report difficulty in implementing specific tasks. The impact of these factors varied, with inadequate financial compensation having the largest association with school nurses' difficulty implementing all the core responsibilities. The study results improve our understanding of school nurses' challenges in implementing core school nursing responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 2021-2022 school year., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

School nurses are pivotal to the safety of school-aged children, particularly those who receive medications in the school setting. The purpose of this study was to explore factors associated with medication administration errors in North Carolina school districts between 2012/2013 and 2017/2018. A longitudinal study using repeated measures analysis of school health services data collected in the North Carolina Annual School Health Services and Programs Survey was conducted. Over time, the number of medication errors ( p  = .001) and number of medication corrective action plans ( p  < .0001) trended upwards. There was also an increase in medication errors when the number of schools in a district was higher ( p  < .0001). Conversely, there was a decrease in corrective action plans when school nurses were directly employed by the school district ( p  = .0471). We implore school disticts to consider the important role of school nurses to keep kids safe, healthy, and ready to learn., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Asthma morbidity disproportionately impacts children from low-income and racial/ethnic minority communities. School-supervised asthma therapy improves asthma outcomes for up to 15 months for underrepresented minority children, but little is known about whether these benefits are sustained over time. We examined the frequency of emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions for 83 children enrolled in Asthma Link, a school nurse-supervised asthma therapy program serving predominantly underrepresented minority children. We compared outcomes between the year preceding enrollment and years one-four post-enrollment. Compared with the year prior to enrollment, asthma-related ED visits decreased by 67.9% at one year, 59.5% at two years, 70.2% at three years, and 50% at four years post-enrollment (all p -values< 0.005). There were also significant declines in mean numbers of total ED visits, asthma-related hospital admissions, and total hospital admissions. Our results indicate that school nurse-supervised asthma therapy could potentially mitigate racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequities in childhood asthma., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Menstrual hygiene management (MHM) among female students is a neglected public health issue in the U.S. This study documented period product insecurity, school absenteeism, and use of school resources to obtain period products among high-school students in St. Louis, MO. Female students completed an anonymous, self-administered survey in English (n = 119). Descriptive statistics were used to determine the prevalence of period product need, resources used to obtain period products, and period-related absenteeism. The mean age of participants was 15.78 ± 1.28. Nearly two-thirds (64.4% (95% CI 55.1%-73.0%)) reported period product insecurity. Two-thirds (66.9% (95% CI 57.7%-75.3%)) reported using at least one of the school's resources to obtain period products. One-third of the participants (33.6% (95% CI 25.0%-43.1%)) reported missing school due to a lack of period products. School nurses need to be cognizant of how MHM affects their students' attendance at school and what measures they can take to help reduce menstruation-related absenteeism., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.