NASN believes understanding and implementing the Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice™ is foundational to professional school nursing practice that supports education and health equity for all students. This new free online educational offering, Overview of the Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice™, includes seven modules (each 15-20 minutes) – a shorter on-demand version of the current full-day offerings focusing on individual principles – and provides 2.0 NCPD contact hours.

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Help Choose Tomorrow's NASN Leaders

Vote now to choose the next president-elect, secretary/treasurer, and nominating committee member. Cast your vote before midnight Eastern on April 15, 2023. Vote online or request a paper ballot. Meet the candidates and access the online ballot. (Eligible voting members have Active or Honorary membership types.)

The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact and changed the work of school nurses. The Journal of School Nursing (JOSN) article, Burnout and Mental Health and Well-Being of School Nurses After the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A National Cross-Sectional Survey, aimed to examine the associations between job stressors, COVID-19-related concerns, burnout, and mental health and well-being among school nurses, and whether any of these associations are mediated by burnout.

• NASN members receive an online subscription to JOSN. Current and previous articles are indexed online.
• Receive an alert for the latest JOSN issue and when new articles are published online.

In the NASN School Nurse March Podcast, Cynthia Galemore, NASN School Nurse Editor, interviews Donna Mazyck, Executive Director of NASN, about the article "Professional Identity in Nursing (PIN): A Narrative Essay." The essay describes Mazyck's school nursing experience and PIN formation and introduces the PIN definition and domains. Listen here. School nurses are encouraged to develop their PIN.

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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.

• Control Asthma in keiki campaign launched to identify, control triggers (Source: hawaii.edu)
• New Prairie High medical pathway training future nurses (Source: thegazette.com)
• UTrust grant purchases medical supplies for four school nurses (Source: therogersvillereview.com)
• Bill addresses shortage of school nurses, counselors through health grant program (Source: okcfox.com)
• Auburn College of Education, College of Nursing faculty garner funding to address student mental health (Source: ocm.auburn.edu)

Transition Support for Students with Lupus

The free NASN learning center course, Pediatric to Adult Care Transition for Students with Lupus – The School Nurse Role in Care Coordination and Transition Planning, reviews the impact of pediatric-onset lupus on children and teens. Participants will identify the goal of transition planning, potential risks resulting from lack of transition support for teens and young adults, and apply the tenets of supporting frameworks to their role in contributing to a phased approach to transition planning from pediatric to adult care for continued effective and seamless self-management of the disease. Evidence-based current information, tools/resources, and strategies will support the confidence and competence of the school nurse role in transition planning for students focusing on health equity for at-risk students.



• See also in the NASN Learning Center: Improving Care Coordination for Students with Chronic Health Conditions Toolkit; tools and resources for school nurses to manage chronic health conditions in school-age children. 
• Skills-based Approach to Managing Chronic Health Conditions in Schools helps school nurses apply the NASN Framework for 21st Century School Nursing Practice™ to support students with a chronic health condition.

The HHS Child and Adolescent Health Emergency Planning Toolkit addresses the needs of children and youth with special health care needs (CYSHCN) in emergency preparedness, response, recovery, mitigation, and community resilience activities. The toolkit is intended for health care, public health, and social services providers serving CYSHCN and their families/caregivers and contains approaches, resources, and practices to help providers coordinate and integrate systems of care for CYSHCN and their families/caregivers.

School nurses, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA), and parent, youth, and community leaders are hosting Embrace, Encourage, and Engage: Family and Caregiver Access to Child and Youth Mental Health Resources a virtual event designed to provide parents and caregivers with tools and skills they need to support their children’s mental health on Wednesday, March 22 at 6 p.m. ET. We know that parents and caregivers play a vital role and want to provide them with tools and skills to support their children. Share this registration information.

• School nurses collaborate to support upstream approaches to improve the mental well-being of students. See NASN's Mental Health page for resources for school nurses.

The Public Health Emergency (PHE) resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic will end on May 11, thus activating Medicaid unwinding. School nurses can help families plan and prepare by providing information and reminding families to update their contact information with Medicaid. Here are some resources to use and share:

• Unwinding resources from The Georgetown University Center for Children and Families.
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Medicaid and CHIP Continuous Enrollment Unwinding Communications Toolkit.
• Information and resources from the American Academy of Pediatrics to help communicate and navigate the process.

Insufficient sleep has been shown to have negative impacts on physical health and cognitive development in children and adolescents. Could sleep be causing some of the chief complaints of the frequent visitors to your school health clinic? Learn more in the Clinical Pediatrics article Impact of Body Mass Index, Socioeconomic Status, and Bedtime Technology Use on Sleep Duration in Adolescents.

• Check out the NASN Learning Center course The Biopsychosocial Impact of Tech Dependence: It's Putting Us At Risk showing the biological, psychological, and social impacts of today's technology use.

Purple Day, or Epilepsy Awareness Day, celebrated on March 26, was created to increase the public’s understanding of this brain disorder and to eliminate the fear and stigma surrounding it. With over 470,000 children diagnosed with epilepsy in the U.S., it is likely school nurses are familiar with the day-to-day challenges epilepsy brings. Learn more about supporting Purple Day.

• See the course Implementing NASN's School Nursing Evidence-based Practice Seizures and Epilepsy Clinical Guideline guidance to keep students with seizure disorders healthy, safe, and ready to learn in your school community.

• Vermont State School Nurses Association Spring Conference - March 24, 2023 - Learn more and Register

• Missouri Association of School Nurses Spring Conference - School Nurses Planting a Lifetime of Health - March 25-26, 2023 - Learn more and Register

• New Jersey State School Nurses Association Spring 2023 Conference - Reimagining School Nursing - March 25, 2023 - Learn more and Register

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

• New Hampshire School Nurses Association Conference - Kids 1st on April 1st - April 1, 2023 - Learn more and Register

• Delaware School Nurse Association Winter/Spring Conference - Save the Date - April 1, 2023 - Learn more

• Ohio Association of School Nurses 2023 Annual Conference - Good as Gold, Celebrating 50 Years of Ohio Nurses - April 14-16, 2023 - Learn more and Register

• Louisiana School Nurses Organization: 53rd Annual LSNO Professional Growth Seminar - April 18-21, 2023 - Learn more and Register

• Wisconsin Association of School Nurses Annual Conference - Improving the Inclusivity and Visibility of School Nurses - April 26-28, 2023 - Learn more and Register

• 2023 New England School Nurse Conference (Association of School Nurses of Connecticut) - School Nurses: Essential Anchors During Changing Times - May 6-7, 2023 - Learn more and Register

• Utah School Nurse Association Annual Spring Conference - May 11-12, 2023 - Learn more and Register

• 2023 Mississippi School Nurse Association Conference - Transformation Through Adversity: The Resilient School Nurse - May 31 -June 2, 2023 - Learn more and Register

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 2023 calendar. 

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