S c h o o l N u r s e s A s s o c i a t i o n o f N S W
Little is known about the role of the school nurse in Australia. Preliminary research indicates that school nurses engage in clinical care, health counselling, health promotion, school community development activities, networking/resource and referral, and general clinic management. However, it is unclear whether these accurately reflect the role of school nurses in this state, what proportion of time nurses spend on these various activities and what are the common health concerns of students presenting to school nurses. Part of this uncertainty appears to stem from the lack of standardised data collection methods for school nurses. Working in collaboration with the NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health and the School Nurses Association of NSW, this project aims to clarify the role of school nurses in NSW and subsequently facilitate ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the impact and outcomes of school nursing. School nurses were surveyed in 2007 to obtain their opinions about their role. Their responses were used to develop a standardised daily activity log to identify roles actually undertaken over a four week period. Nurses' perceived roles were then compared to activity log reports to identify main duties undertaken, proportion of time spent on activities and common presenting health concerns. A summary report was presented at the Annual School Nurses Conference on 21 January 2008. The results of the research so far have shown the following: An increased understanding of:
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