October 13, 2022

NASN holds the position that promoting continuous and initial Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage provides health benefits and supports health equity for eligible children and adolescents. The Public Health Emergency resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic will end, thus activating Medicaid unwinding. 

Students require health insurance to access care that promotes their health, safety, and readiness to learn. Communication from schools about Medicaid unwinding promotes this change in a timely way for students and families.

Paid advertisement

NASN is calling for presentation submissions for NASN2023, Building for the Future: Health, Advocacy, and Leadership. School nurses, researchers, and all focused on supporting students and school health services are encouraged to submit presentations.

Presentation modes for In-person NASN2023 are General, Breakout, Workshop, Preconference, and e-Poster sessions. Presentation modes for Virtual NASN2023 are General and Breakout sessions. All submissions are due November 16, 2022, at noon ET.

NASN offers scholarships and research grants to NASN members. Applications deadlines are approaching. Apply to advance and fund your education and the school nursing practice.

• The Endowment Education Scholarship is for professional registered school nurses or school nurse educators pursuing post-baccalaureate certification or graduate degrees. Submit applications by this Saturday, October 15.

• The Advocacy Education Scholarship is for school nurses participating in an advocacy education program. Submit applications by this Saturday, October 15.

• The RN to BSN Education Advancement Scholarship is for registered nurses employed in schools to advance their education. Submit applications by October 15.

• NASN Research Grants advance and fund the practice of quality school nursing and school-affiliated healthcare delivery. NASN encourages and supports research regarding school nursing and the health of school-aged children. Submit applications by Monday, October 31.

Sports-related concussions (SRCs) are not uncommon among teen athletes. School nurses are in an ideal position to care for athletes affected with SRCs. This NASN School Nurse article, Understanding Baseline Concussion Testing: A Resource for School Nurses as Members of Concussion Management Teams, briefly examines baseline concussion testing as a tool for assessing and managing the student athlete suffering from an SRC and explores the role of the school nurse on concussion management teams.

Schools and school districts are key to U.S. vaccination policies: They communicate immunization enrollment requirements and enforce them during registration. School district websites engage in diverse health promotion practices surrounding immunization, from encouraging vaccination to neutral messaging and to encouraging exemptions.

In The Journal of School Nursing (JOSN) October Podcast, JOSN editor Martha Dewey Bergren interviews author Mark Navin to discuss the article, "Imperfect Immunization Communication on School District Websites: A Mixed-Methods Review."

Paid advertisement

This section highlights news stories featuring NASN and school nurses. If you have a story about school nurses you'd like us to consider including, please send it to us.

• School Nurses’ Mental Health Is Suffering. Here’s How District Leaders Can Help (Source: edweek.org)
• Why Des Moines is joining the growing list of US districts putting Narcan in its schools (Source: desmoinesregister.com)
• Pequot Lakes school nurses receive donations (Source: pineandlakes.com)
• Health department providing drive-thru flu shots at local high schools (Source: .blueridgenow.com)
• Local coaches discuss concussion prevention in youth football (Source: ctulocal1.org)

Join us Nov. 15-16, 2022, in-person or virtually, for the symposium, K-12 COVID-19 Response Across the Nation: What Worked, What We Learned, and What’s Next, to connect with colleagues from across the country and reflect on our pandemic response successes and lessons learned. 

Deborah D'Souza-Vazirani, NASN Champions for School Health Project Manager, will moderate a School Located Vaccination (SLV) panel of NASN members, including Lynne Meadows (GA), Marnie McKercher (CO), Joanna Pitts (VA) and Mary Ellen Engel (NJ). The event, coordinated by the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign and Brown University School of Public Health and made possible by The Rockefeller Foundation, will welcome Deborah L. Birx, M.D., former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, as the keynote speaker. Learn more and register.

On October 5, 2022, CDC updated the Operational Guidance for K-12 Schools and Early Care and Education Programs to Support Safe In-Person Learning to recommend that school nurses and other staff working in the school health office wear a mask to prevent the spread of infection from COVID-19 based on community transmission. Students exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 should wear a well-fitting mask while waiting for transport home.

The CDC recommends everyone stay up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations. You can help families or students check if they are up to date here and find out if and when they can get a booster. People can visit vaccines.gov (English) or vacunas.gov (Spanish) to search for vaccines nearby.

Skills-based Approach to Managing Chronic Health Conditions in Schools

The Skills-based Approach to Managing Chronic Health Conditions in Schools program aims to help school nurses apply NASN's Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice™ to the management of chronic health conditions in their school communities. As a result of participating in this educational activity, you will be able to:

• Describe evidence-based skills for a 21st-century school nurse-led approach to managing chronic health conditions in schools.
• Apply lessons learned from other state experiences supporting students to effectively manage their chronic health condition. 
• Explain to non-licensed stakeholders the critical components needed to effectively manage chronic health conditions for students in schools to support the development and sustainability of programming.

Learn more and complete the course.

With funding made possible through the CDC Healthy Schools Branch, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) will launch a Chronic Condition Management in Schools Community Grants Program. Up to 10 Community Grants to plan and implement collaborative projects to advance chronic condition management in schools, each worth up to $12,500, are available to qualified applicants. Funded projects must establish teams that include representatives from the following sectors: (1) schools and/or school districts and (2) local pediatricians and/or pediatric residents. Community organizations/local health departments are also invited to apply and must include the above two sectors on the project team. 

The application deadline is Friday, October 21, 2022. If you have questions, contact Courtney Day, Manager, Community Health and Partnerships, at [email protected] or apply online.

The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and Office of Safe and Supportive Schools just released information about the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program. This program provides competitive grants to support and demonstrate innovative partnerships to train school-based mental health service providers for employment in schools and local educational agencies (LEAs). Here’s the application process and additional information. The application deadline is Nov. 3, 2022.

The agency will host Technical Assistance webinars to provide more information about the grant program:  

• Tuesday, Oct. 11, 3 p.m. ET Webinar Registration 
• Wednesday, Oct. 19, 4 p.m. ET  Webinar Registration 

RTI International, an independent nonprofit research institute, is currently working with the Office for Victims of Crime on a project related to women’s health, specifically female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C). As part of the project, they are developing an outreach campaign to educate professionals who have the potential to work with communities impacted by FGM/C. School nurses are a target audience to prevent FGM/C and identify at-risk individuals. RTI invites you to join a one-hour virtual participatory focus group to help inform this outreach campaign. Learn more about this project and sign up for the focus group.

Schools play a critical role in promoting students’ health and development and can take action to help students feel connected. Learn about what schools can do to promote school connectedness with these CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health resources.

Focused on action and equity, the goal of Children’s Environmental Health (CEH) Day is to collectively increase the visibility of children's environmental health issues while empowering individuals and organizations to take action on behalf of children nationwide. Spread awareness by using these tools to educate your network.

• NASN Resources: See NASN's Environmental Health page for related resources. 

Sudden Cardiac Arrest is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., affecting more than 356,000 people each year, including children, teens, and young adults. An estimated 1 in 200,000 high school athletes will die suddenly from cardiac arrest. School nurses can keep children and adults in their schools safer by increasing awareness of warning signs like fainting while exercising and creating and socializing emergency response plans, including CPR and AED use. Access tools for you and your school from the SADS Foundation.

• NASN Resources: NASN's Learning Center offers numerous nursing continuing professional development courses free for NASN members. See the course Cardiac Emergency Preparedness - The Role of the School Nurse in Leading a Multidisciplinary Team and the poster hall presentation Improving Response to Medical Emergencies in the School Setting.

The American Dental Association’s Council on Advocacy for Access and Prevention has announced that the February 2023 National Children’s Dental Health Month materials are now available. Visit to order the free bilingual posters and find additional resources, including activity sheets and a planning guide. 

• Tennessee Association of School Nurses Fall 2022 Conference - Advancing the Professional Practice of the School Nurse: One Life at a Time - November 2-3 - Learn more and Register

• Texas School Nurse Organization Conference -Promoting student health by building resiliency - November 4-6 - Learn more and Register

• Colorado Association of School Nurses Fall Conference - Supporting Student Success: School Nurses Make a Difference - November 4-6 -  Learn more and Register

• Virginia Association of School Nurses Fall Conference - 36th Annual Fall Conference - November 5-6 -  Learn more and Register

• West Virginia Association of School Nurses Annual Fall Conference - Back to Basics - November 10-12 - Learn more and Register

• Annual North Carolina School Nurse Conference - School Health: A Time to Reflect, Celebrate, and Refocus - December 8-9, 2022 - Learn more and Register

• Overseas School Health Nurse Association Spring Conference 2023 - March 26-27, 2023 - Learn more and Pre-register