Weekly Digest from NASN View as Webpage Weekly Digest NASN news & updates December 10, 2020 NASN News and Highlights See more. Upcoming Events See more. Weekly Digest Archive See past issues. Follow Us on Social ‌ ‌ ‌ President's Message NASN recently sent a letter to the Biden-Harris Transition Team, asking that $1.36 billion be allocated to help schools and districts hire nurses. Congress should also ensure that school nursing services are appropriately reimbursed by health insurance so that nurses can be retained long-term. A recent analysis concluded that reopening safely will cost an additional $400,000 per school district to hire more nurses, even if just part-time. There are 13,598 school districts in the United States and since 24.7 percent of schools currently have no school nurse, $1.36 billion would provide funding for every school to have at least a part-time school nurse. Read the full letter to the Transition Team. Laurie Combe, MN, RN, NCSN NASN President BETTER HEALTH. BETTER LEARNING. ™ NASN News and Highlights NASN Requests Funding for School Nurses in Document to Biden/Harris Transition Team School nurses are helping us safely reopen U.S. schools. These pandemic-related responsibilities are above and beyond the core contributions of school nurses; they traditionally address student health and mental health issues to support learning. Yet more than a quarter of our nation’s schools don’t have a school nurse. Most funding for school nurses is from education dollars, and since states’ and schools’ budgets are stretched during this pandemic, money to hire school nurses is scarce. NASN asks that $1.36B be allocated to help schools and districts hire nurses. SEE NASN'S REQUEST Paid advertisement NASN Submits Comments to Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices In order to minimize spread of COVID-19 and keep schools open, school staff -- including teachers, specialized instructional support personnel (school counselors, school nurses, school psychologists, school social workers, physical and occupational therapists), aides, food service and custodial workers -- and principals need to be considered as essential groups for access to COVID-19 vaccination. READ NASN’s COMMENTS TO AICP Are You Hiring? Let NASN Help Don't miss out on the best candidate for the job. Advertise your open positions in the NASN Employment Center: your recruitment solution. We offer packages that include resume bank access, posting for 30 days, and email distribution of your job posting. Hire smarter. You don't need all the candidates, you need the right ones. NASN EMPLOYMENT CENTER School Nurses in the News NASN and school nurses have been widely represented in the news media over the past few months and we are now including a section in the Weekly Digest to highlight some of those stories twice a month. If you have a story about school nurses you'd like us to consider including, please send it to us. ‘It’s not boo-boos and Band-Aids’: COVID-19 thrust school nurses onto the front line (Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer) Local school nurses protecting children from COVID (Source: MyFox8, North Carolina) School nurses face mounting challenges to ensure the safety of students and staff (Source: Concord Monitor) Pandemic puts school nurses on battle lines (Source: The Herald Republican) COVID-19 Updates Resources COVID-19 Diagnosis Screening Flow Chart MMWR report on early childhood and mitigation strategies COVID-19 Symptom Screener Sample Tracking Tool Information for Pediatric Healthcare Providers Considerations for School Nurses in Planning for Students with Disabilities and Special Healthcare Needs in the Return to School Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Associated with Coronavirus Disease 2019 Schools Reopening Decision Tool  Guidelines for Opening Up America Again Get Us PPE Request Form Get Us PPE, a nonprofit organization, is working to get PPE to schools that are open or plan to reopen in the coming weeks or months. Get Us PPE is the largest national nonprofit delivering PPE where it is needed most, free of charge. So far, they have delivered over 3 million units of PPE to people in need. Please fill out THIS FORM to let them know the average weekly PPE needs of your school and/or school district, even if you are currently closed or possibly closing soon. This will help the organization to prepare to get PPE where it’s needed most in advance of reopening. CDC Healthy Schools Partner Toolkit Many national organizations have been creating and sharing some great resources to help students, parents, faculty and other school staff to lower stress and improve mental health, promote physical activity, engage families and students from a distance, and protect general health and welfare. CDC created an easy-to-navigate online space, the CDC Healthy Schools Partner Toolkit, to highlight these resources. Within the toolkit, you will discover links to school guidance, virtual teaching and learning resources, infographics, webinars, training, other promotional toolkits, and more. Other CDC Updates: CDC has new guidance on When to Quarantine, which school nurses need to take into consideration in partnership with public health authorities and school leadership. CDC has new vaccine information, including training for healthcare providers interested in administering vaccines. School nurses will find answers to the latest research and be able to respond to vaccine hesitant staff and community members. CDC updated FAQs about the COVID-19 vaccination on November 4, 2020. Helping Children and Families in Uncertain Times Sesame Street has released new resources to support families, Caring for Each Other, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The resources are available in multiple languages and include videos, games and apps, coloring pages, and guidance for parents to talk to children about COVID-19. Managing Chronic Health Conditions Evidence-Informed Practice to Support Students with Chronic Health Conditions Check out the article “School Nurses’ Role in Self-Management, Anticipatory Guidance, and Advocacy for Students with Chronic Illness” in the November issue of the NASN School Nurse. Access online is free to NASN members. Not a member? Now may be the time to join! Newly Released Updates to National Asthma Management Guidelines The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a part of the National Institutes of Health, released updates to the national guidelines for the diagnosis, management, and treatment of asthma. The 2020 Focused Updates to the Asthma Management Guidelines are published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and is now posted on the NHLBI website and include a digital toolkit. Improving School Community and Student Health How Your Health and Well-Being Can Influence Students Nurses are role models, educators, and advocates, and can influence the health of patients, families, and communities. However, the overall health of American nurses can often be worse than that of the general population. The Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™ (HNHN) Grand Challenge, launched in 2017, aims to improve the health of the nation by first improving the health of its nurses. This presentation reports data from 18,500 nurses and nursing students nationally over a period of two years. Nurses will be able to retake the HealthyNurse® survey, which will provide a mechanism for longitudinal tracking of progress. This course was originally presented at Virtual NASN2020 and is now available in the NASN Learning Center. Learn more or enroll in Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation. School Nurses: What Are Your Leadership Priorities and Vision? To improve student health and academic outcomes, school nurses must recognize their leadership potential in the provision of health services at the school/district level, their role in supporting school nurse organizations/affiliates at the state level, and ultimately reinforcing the voice of school nursing at the national level. Learners will identify where they are on their leadership path through evaluation and self‐reflection using current leadership theory tools. By taking this course, participants will better understand their role in advocacy, education and policy reform, professionalism, and systems‐level leadership. This course was originally presented at Virtual NASN2020 and is now available in the NASN Learning Center. Learn more or enroll in Your School Nursing Leadership Journey: Let’s Get Started! Mark Your Calendar New School Tools from CDC for a Healthy New Year 3 P.M. EST, December 11, 2020 Join NASN at 3 p.m. EST on December 11 for a presentation by CDC about toolkits for school personnel to use to consider and implement COVID-19 mitigation strategies in their K-12 schools to help reduce the risk of COVID-19 as in-person classes resume in the new year. REGISTER Building School Mental Health Systems 3 P.M. EST December 11, 2020 Join Child Trends, the National Center for School Mental Health, the Division of Adolescent and School Health at CDC, and the Center for Health and Health Care for a discussion about building school mental health systems that support the teachers, nurses, and school administrators on the front lines of keeping our children healthy and safe during COVID-19. REGISTER Healthier School Communities 2020 Virtual Forum 3 P.M. EST December 15, 2020 We learned a lot this year when COVID turned U.S. schools into – among other things – the epicenter of food insecurity in America. And it appears far from over. But now it’s time to look forward and embrace best practices that make schools the whole-child and whole-health environments they need to be. REGISTER NASN Calendar of Events This calendar includes upcoming events hosted by NASN and NASN affiliate school nurse organizations. Access the calendar. NASN CALENDAR National Health Observances Calendar This calendar lists special days, weeks, or months dedicated to raising awareness about important health topics. Access the 2020 calendar. OBSERVANCES CALENDAR Acceptance of advertising on the ad banner in this newsletter or resource information listed within in no way implies endorsement of advertised or listed products or services by NASN. No endorsement is intended or implied. NASN | nasn.org National Association of School Nurses | 1100 Wayne Avenue, Suite 925, Silver Spring, MD 20910 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | About our service provider Sent by [email protected]