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Weekly Digest
NASN news & updates
July 8, 2021
NASN News and Highlights
NASN July Podcast is Available
The COVID-19 pandemic has required thousands of public schools to quickly adapt to hybrid or fully remote models. These new models have presented unprecedented challenges for school nurses as they learn how to optimize their interactions with parents and students to provide ongoing support and monitoring of health. NASN School Nurse Editor, Cynthia Galemore, interviews author Bill Marrapese and Jenny M. Gormley about the article, "Reimagining School Nursing: Lessons Learned From a Virtual School Nurse."
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School Nurses' Valuable Role In Addressing COVID-19 During 2020-21
A recently released infographic illustrates results from NASN’s quick poll of more than 1,750 school nurses from across the country, highlighting their key responsibilities during this challenging time. School nurses can use this form to create your own custom infographic showing your activities this past year.
What Are You Hearing About COVID-19 Vaccines?
School nurses play a vital role in administering the COVID-19 vaccines and explaining their benefits, safety, and efficacy. We want to know what your students, family, and friends are telling you and asking you about the vaccines.

ANA asks that you please take 5 minutes and complete the second COVID-19 Vaccine Survey. Your input will help build an understanding of the questions and concerns raised by patients, family, and friends. Responses will be used to develop relevant tools and resources that assist you in responding to your patients and communities.
COVID-19 Updates
Playbook Offers Tips on COVID-19 Prevention Strategy
As schools continue transitioning to in-person instruction, school nurses will help prepare and implement COVID-19 prevention strategies. Kaiser Permanente has collaborated with over 30 national school health organizations to create the “Planning for the Next Normal at School: Keeping Students, Staff, and Families Safe and Healthy” playbook, which provides evidence-based guidance for adapting to school life after the COVID-19 pandemic. This resource suggests various ways school nurses can work toward decreasing the likelihood of disease transmission. Learn more.

See NASN’s resource on activating the playbook for tips specific to school nursing practice.
"COVID-19 Conversations" Webinar Series
The American Public Health Association's "COVID-19 Conversations" series of rapid-response webinars from the National Academy of Medicine and the American Public Health Association is addressing the state of the science on COVID-19 and exploring emerging evidence on how to best mitigate its impact. All webinars will be recorded and posted on the APHA website.
Vaccine Confidence Among Healthcare Professionals and Local Vaccine Rollout
Learn ways to increase vaccine confidence among healthcare professionals and how two counties launched COVID-19 vaccination efforts, and earn free CE through this CDC-sponsored webinar:

Session Objectives:

  1.    Explain the concept of vaccine confidence.
  2.    Identify strategies to effectively increase vaccine confidence.
  3.    Describe how partnerships contribute to the success of a mass vaccination operation.
NEW COVID-19 Resources
Additional COVID-19 Resources
NASN's COVID-19 Interactive Tools
  • Can I Send My Student to School: Designed for school nurses to share with families, this interactive tool is based on CDC COVID-19 guidance and designed to guide families through assessing when their child should stay home from school.

  • How to Manage Difficult Conversations: A quick micro-burst of learning, this interactive module teaches school nurses a simple formula to use to respond effectively to challenging conversations.

Improving School Community and Student Health
Youth Tobacco Cessation: Considerations for Clinicians
Developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, this brief, practical guide is designed to support pediatric health clinicians in screening patients for tobacco use and providing behavioral and pharmacological support to help youth quit. The resource uses an easy, three-step model, “Ask-Counsel-Treat (ACT),” to guide clinical interactions around cessation.

Topics covered include:


This resource is free!
Opportunities & Networking
Opportunity to Comment on Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals
The draft of proposed revisions to the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals (Core Competencies) is now available for open comment. This blog post has additional details on the draft and ways to provide feedback.
Mark Your Calendar
Focus on Eye Health National Summit
July 14-15, 2021

The Focus on Eye Health National Summit is a key venue to elevate the national dialogue among diverse stakeholder groups around vision and significant population health issues such as surveillance, equity, prevention messaging, service integration, program development, and dissemination of best practices. The Summit allows participants to develop new collaborations, integrate new vision health messages and procedures into their outreach, and improve lines of communication with internal and external partners.

This FREE event will include multiple opportunities for participant engagement, including moderated discussions on key topics, chats with presenters, an exhibit hall with live exhibitor chat and video conversation, and more.
NASN Calendar of Events

This calendar includes upcoming events hosted by NASN and NASN affiliate school nurse organizations. Access the calendar.

National Health Observances Calendar

This calendar lists special days, weeks, or months dedicated to raising awareness about important health topics. Access the 2021 calendar. 
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