The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) launched the National School Health Data Set: Every Student Counts! data initiative in 2018. The data set is comprised of four main areas and has an overarching goal of identifying best practices in school health to meet the needs of students and improve health outcomes. Management of the recent pandemic might have interfered with school nurses participating in this initiative. The goal of this article is to reenergize and familiarize school nurses with this data initiative and highlight the data points added or expanded since 2018 and why they are important to school nursing practice and addressing health equity of students. For more information on NASN’s National School Health Data Set: Every Student Counts!, go to https://nasn.org/everystudentcounts .
Throughout our nursing education and careers, we have an ever-evolving relationship with nursing research. The pendulum swings from feeling baffled and overwhelmed to feeling empowered and exhilarated by the power of data to tell our story and shape our daily practice. As school nurses, we can grow from reading and understanding research articles published in The Journal of School Nursing to contributing our own school nursing research to the publication and shaping the future of research that depicts, supports, elevates, and informs school nursing practice.Each year, the National Association of School Nurses (NASN) embarks upon a process to review, refine, and release its research priorities. This process identifies gaps in school nurse knowledge, skills, and practice and provides direction for future research and evidence-based practice (EBP) efforts. These efforts include an evaluation of our specialty's research, education, and practice needs, as well as the needs of the larger health care and education landscapes. Because school nurses support both health and academic outcomes for students, highlighting the intersection between health care and education through research is critical to advancing school nursing practice.Two pivotal guidance documents released during the past year have shaped the most recent NASN research and research implementation priorities. First, the National Academy of Medicine's Future of Nursing 2020-2030 report provided a roadmap of research priorities elevating the impact all nurses can and should have on health equity. This report repeatedly highlighted the role school nurses play in supporting health equity and addressing social determinants of health and learning (National Academy of Medicine, 2021). Second, the National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR) released its 2022-2026 strategic plan with a framework emphasizing policy, practice, and research involving prevention, treatment, and holistic care provided by nurses working in schools and community settings. The NINR encourages research supporting optimal health and quality of life, including addressing conditions where children learn, play, and live (National Institute of Nursing Research, 2022).In alignment with the marching orders from these and other guiding documents, NASN champions robust research that addresses the following priorities:
Objectives: Generate national estimates of the public health nursing workforce's (1) demographic and work characteristics and (2) continuing education learning needs in the United States. Design: Secondary data analysis of the 2018 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses. Sample: Total 7352 of the 50,273 survey respondents were categorized as public health nurses (PHNs), representing an estimated 467,271 national workforce. Measurements: Survey items for demographics, practice setting, training topics, and language(s) spoken fluently were analyzed. Results: Workforce demographic characteristics are included. Mental health training was the most frequently endorsed topic by PHNs, followed by patient-centered care and evidence-based care. Training topic needs vary by practice setting. Conclusions:Results here can be used as a needs assessment for national public health nursing professional development and education initiatives. Further research is needed to refine and survey a nationally representative sample in a manner meaningful to public health nursing practice.
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