Table 1 Previous and current roles of the school nurse
Previous role | Current role |
|---|---|
Responsible for immunisation of all school age children | Immunisation progressively delegated to specialist teams |
Support for whole school curriculum | Individual interventions based on pupil need |
Support for school children with chronic physical health conditions | Chronic physical health conditions delegated to Community Children’s Nurses |
Children ‘referred’ to service via ad hoc requests e.g. being stopped in corridor by teachers | Children referred formally to service from a variety of sources including education staff, GPs, social workers etc |
School nurse role ill-defined but incorporates children with almost any need | School nurses prioritise children who are referred into service on one or more of the 10 pathways. |
Does not lead team | Leads a school health team possibly including health care assistants and staff grade nurses |
Infrequent and ad hoc home visiting | Role includes family assessment and home visits |
Limited holistic assessment of family and environment outside school | GIRFEC and wider family assessment |
Unfocused and unclear contribution to outcomes such as improved mental health | Focused role with agreed definition and referral mechanisms |
No nationally collected data on school nurse role | Contributes to national dataset on health of school age children |