Assessment of School Nurse-Provider Communication of Changes in Student Condition

摘要

The landscape of the United States public school system was greatly improved upon with the creation of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 2004 (IDEA 2004). This act established a standard that allowed all school aged children living with chronic illnesses to integrate into public school systems. This mandate currently impacts over 12 million children living with chronic illness including and not limited to asthma, seizure disorders, developmental delay, cystic fibrosis, traumatic brain injuries, anxiety and cancer. IDEA 2004 extended healthcare into public school systems and as a result, increased the average acuity of students that school nurses (SNs) care for. It is estimated that 15% of school-aged children miss 11 or more school days per year because of illness or injury demonstrating evidence of increased student acuity and a need to provide more appropriate care for these students in order to increase their time spent in the academic setting. Adequate SN and primary care provider (PCP) communication is essential to reduce absenteeism for this population and to ensure that students are safe during their time spent away from home and healthcare clinics. From this quality improvement project, more is understood pertaining to the communication patterns between SNs and PCPs and recommendations are provided in order to increase effective SN and PCP communication.