An Investigation of School Playground Safety Practices as Reported by School Nurses

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate school playground safety practices. Thenstudy used a purposeful sample of school nurses who attended a playground safety workshop atnthe 2006 National Association of School Nurses annual conference. Seventy-five questionnairesnwere distributed, and 64 useable questionnaires were returned. The responses indicated that littlenattention is being given to providing safe playground environments in schools as measured bynbest practices of supervision, age-appropriate design, fall surfacing, and equipment maintenance.nParticipants pointed to the need for better supervision and supervision training, careful selectionnof age-appropriate equipment, maintaining adequate fall surfaces under the equipment, and ensuringnthat equipment is properly maintained and repaired. The study also revealed that schoolnnurses believe they could play a role in playground injury prevention through the collection andnanalysis of injury data, communication to administrators about the need for comprehensive planningnof the play environment, and becoming active members of playground safety committees.