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School Nurses - An Endangered Species
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Donna Cardillo, RN
Donna Cardillo, RN has been referred to as the ‘guru’ of career development for nurses. Donna is a professional keynote speaker, author, consultant, and coach. Her accomplished career combines over 20 years of clinical, managerial and business experience, not to mention her stint as a professional singer. Donna’s clinical experience includes emergency and psychiatric nursing.
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Donna Cardillo
With continuous cut-backs in education budgets, many school nurse positions are being eliminated, putting our nation’s children at serious risk. Part of the problem is the considerable misunderstanding of what school nurses do and the value they bring to the community, the educational system, and the healthcare system. There is considerable evidence to support the fact that fewer school nurses has resulted in deaths, serious complications, and a decreased quality of life amongst the children they serve. See a comprehensive article from a 2005 edition of
US News and World Report. Be sure to also click on the links on the right side of the article page.
Advocate for safe nursing staffing in your local schools whether you have school-age children or not. You’re advocating for your profession at the same time and creating awareness of the vital role nurses play in the school system including emergency management and preparedness, care and case management of children with chronic illness, health education for the students, faculty, parents, and community at large, and more. Learn more about what school nurses do at www.nasn.org and http://www.aft.org/healthcare/schoolnurses/. If you think school nursing is a cakewalk or a “dead-end job” as one nurse recently referred to it as, you are sorely misinformed.
charlita
almost 5 years ago
2976 comments
School nurses are valuable to our children's wellfare. How could anyone think they are not? My grrandson uses an inhaler and goes to the school nurse when he needs to use it. He was recently struck in the head with a bookbag and knocked out briefly. When he had a fever of 102, the nurse called his Mom to come and get him. All kinds of things can occur with children. Who would monitor the children without a nurse? The teacher is already overloaded and misses alot. She didn't even know my grandson was knocked out until another child told her. They are the mother's eyes and ears. It's too scary to think of not having a school nurse. They are essential to providing care to our children and grandchildren.