The Role of the School Nurse

BY Erin Gifford RN
School nursing has been in effect since the 1800s in England (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). In the early 1900s, school nursing was in full effect in the United States to assess school aged children for the spread of infectious diseases (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). In today's world, school nurses hold a variety of roles. The school nurse is responsible for the direct care of school aged children during the hours of school. This entails assessing injured children, providing care to ailing children, or administering medications to children with disease processes such as diabetes mellitus. Nurses can also be employed in a boarding school setting, where they are responsible for the care of children 24/7 (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). The school nurse is also responsible for education. The school nurse educates students on a wide array of subjects ranging from hand washing to safe sex. The school nurse also functions as a case manager. For example, school nurses help to arrange health care for children with many comorbidities or complex health issues (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). The school nurse also acts as a consultant. The school nurse is responsible for providing health information to school administrators, teachers, and parent-teacher groups (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). The school nurse also acts as a counselor to troubled youths, or just students with health concerns. Nursing is viewed as a trustworthy occupation. School nurses also participate in community outreach. This entails community health fairs or festivals, immunization programs, health education fairs, blood pressure screenings, or local charities to promote education (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). The school nurse must also function as a researcher to ensure that the care she is providing to the students is evidence based. As you can see, clearly school nurses function in a wide array of roles, and are a very important asset to the community.

References
Stanhope, M. & Lancaster, J. (2008). Public Health Nursing: Population-Centered Health Care in the Community. St. Louis, Missouri: Mosby Inc.

NOTE: This blog post reflects the work of a Registered Nurse with minor editing by Shirley Comer RN and was completed as a class assignment. The content of this blog is for informational purposes only. Before beginning or changing a treatment or lifestyle regime you should consult your primary health care provider.

Economics and Healthcare

BY Tiffany Thomas RN

There are many factors that are influencing healthcare costs, including demographics, technology, and chronic illness. To begin with, a major demographic change includes the aging population. The majority of older adults receive Medicaid and Medicare. As the population continues to age the more money the government spends on healthcare. As a result, the government is having difficulty compensating for the healthcare needs of the growing aging population. Therefore, the government is changing the way in which they are reimbursing hospitals. For example, starting in 2013 a portion of hospitals’ DRG reimbursement will be based on patient satisfaction. In addition, technology also increase healthcare cost. For example, electronic charting cost much more than paper charting. Electronic charting requires more equipment, training, and staff. Last but not least, chronic medical conditions increase healthcare cost. Chronic disease accounted for 75% of total health care spending in 2003 (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2008). Thus, demographics, technology, chronic illness and many other factors are influencing the rise in healthcare cost. Not to mention, the uninsured people that hospitals has to treat without receiving any payment.

Stanhope, M, & Lancaster, J. (2008). Public health nursing, population-centered health care in the community. St.Louis, Missouri: Mosby Inc., an affiliate of Elsevier Inc.

Saver, Cynthia. (2011). HCAHPS: How the OR’s scores affect your whole organization. OR Manager, 27(4), 1-5.

NOTE: This blog post reflects the work of a Registered Nurse with minor editing by Shirley Comer RN and was completed as a class assignment. The content of this blog is for informational purposes only. Before beginning or changing a treatment or lifestyle regime you should consult your primary health care provider.

Healthly People 2010 and STDs

BY Theresa Vana RN

Healthy People 2010 was developed by the United States Department of Health and Human Services with the goal of improving the health of our nation. These objectives maybe met with disease education and disease prevention.

The Public Health Nurse is in a unique position to help achieve the objectives of Healthy People 2010 in regards to sexual behavior responsibility. There are two important objectives that must be met to help reduce the incidence of sexually transmitted diseases(STD's).

First, adolescents must be educated about STD's. They must be taught the mode of transmission and the long term health effects of STD's. Abstinence can be one method taught as a means of prevention to exposure of the various virus and bacteria that can lead to problems like HIV, pelvic inflammatory disease, fertility problems, cervical cancer and genital warts. With an increase awareness of STD transmission and treatment options, the objective of sexual responsibility will decrease health costs and improve the health of our nations youth.

The second important way the public health nurse can help members of the community decrease their incidence of STD's is to promote use of condoms. Public Health Nurses can provide education programs that address these needs and evaluate the effectiveness of their programs by monitoring the incidence of STD's in their communities.

Reference:

About healthy people. Retrieved August 3, 2011 from: http://healthypeople.gov

Lancaster, J. & Stanhope, M. (2008) Public health nursing population-centered health care in the community. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.

NOTE: This blog post reflects the work of a Registered Nurse with minor editing by Shirley Comer RN and was completed as a class assignment. The content of this blog is for informational purposes only. Before beginning or changing a treatment or lifestyle regime you should consult your primary health care provider.

How will policy impact Future Healthcare?

By Carina White RN

Economics, Ethnicity, Changes in Policy are the three fundamental principals that will have an impact on the future of Health Care.

a) Economics:Overall health care spending rose from 5.1% of the gross national product(GNP) from the 1960s to 15.3% in the 2003 and by the year 2014 spending is expected to rise by 18.7% (Clark 2008).

b) Ethnicity/Cultural/Race: Seniors, 65 years and up will make up half of the population by the year 2035. The increase in non-whites will triple by 2020 (Hispanic population will be the majority). The rates of poverty and health care disparities will increase. Lack of insurance, increased depends on government programs, such as Medicaid/Medicare will also affect the cost of future health care . (Stanhope, 2008)

c)Change in Government Policy in the Washington: Cuts in Medicaid/Medicare programs that will affect the poor and those with several disabilities are under consideration. Reform in Social Securities benefits and decreases in spending or funding for extensive research programs is also anticipated. Lobbying for increased taxes and limited caps on Drug Companies charging for medication are also being considered. (Clark, 2008) & (Stanhope, 2008)

In addition to the influences listed above, there are many other changes that will affect the entire delivery of care nurses will face in the future. Seniors and the poor will feel the bulk of changes in the health care system. Nurses will have to do more teaching and educating patients about medication, prevention of disease, diets, etc. There will be increase in Home health care/Community nursing, because of the cuts in entitlement programs, such as medicaid/medicare.

References
Clark M J (2008) Community Health Nursing Advocacy for Population Health.

Stanhope M & Lancaster J (2008) Public Health Nursing Population-Centered Health Care in the Community.

NOTE: This blog post reflects the work of a Registered Nurse with minor editing by Shirley Comer RN and was completed as a class assignment. The content of this blog is for informational purposes only. Before beginning or changing a treatment or lifestyle regime you should consult your primary health care provider.