The school nurse as navigator of the school health journey: developing the theory and evidence for policy

Abstract

The aim of this article is to explore how the development of the theoretical and strategic basis of school nursing offers a vehicle for the delivery of an effective public health strategy for children and adolescents. Through a critical examination of the status and scope of school nursing within the UK and US health care systems it is clear that a deficiency exists regarding the theoretical and strategic basis for the functioning of school nursing. Consideration is given to the concept of the school nurse as 'navigator' for the child along the trajectory of the school health journey.This novel approach to school nursing needs to be developed theoretically and evaluated for effectiveness. A rapid review of the evidence to support school nursing interventions has revealed that the evidence base for school nursing interventions/actions remains very weak, thereby challenging the ability of school nurses to deliver desired outcomes for the present ambitious public health agenda.We argue that a planned approach to developing the evidence for school nursing, based on the UK Medical Research Council (2000) framework for the evaluation of complex interventions, could help to ensure a robust role for the school nurse. This acknowledgement and development of a novel approach to school nursing could

A case study of asthma care in school age children using nurse-coordinated multidisciplinary collaborative practices

“…More generic community nurses were also able to access specialist knowledge from the asthma coordinator which enhanced their service. This reflects the work of Brooks et al 29 who describe a whole network of coordinated activities which fall within the responsibility of the “navigator” role. However, in this case, there was little evidence of succession planning for the role of the asthma coordinator; neither was there evidence of service reconfiguration to adopt a more public-health-focused model.…”

“…The asthma coordinator working with her team of school health advisors and asthma support workers are working towards enabling the child and family to navigate 29 their way through the health and education network. The goal is to provide an integrated service in which the child with asthma can move seamlessly between NHS, school, and home: So what we’re actually hoping to achieve at the end of this is some sort of framework integrated care pathway, I’m not really sure what it will be called.…”

A qualitative exploration of the experiences of school nurses during COVID-19 pandemic as the frontline primary health care professionals

“…Much time and many resources are focused on acute care during such pandemics but the work in the primary health care setting has been seen often to go unnoticed ( Goel, 2020 ). Even within the school setting, the role of school nursing professionals has been likened to an invisible one, with school teachers and parents having little understanding of the role, and therefore the value, of these health professionals ( Brooks et al, 2007 ). Their role and responsibilities are extremely important in reducing and preventing the spread of the virus in communities, where much of the disease transfer can occur, and thereby decrease the burden and minimize the utilization of extra health care resources during this crisis in the acute care setting.…”

Improving chronic illness care for veterans within the framework of the Patient-Centered Medical Home: experiences from the Ann Arbor Patient-Aligned Care Team Laboratory

“…The navigator system Although navigator programs have been developed over many years [41][42][43][44][45][46], there is no standard definition of core structures or processes [47]. Goals identified as central to most programs include: coordination of patient care, continuous and proactive patient follow-up, and the use of the navigator's specialized knowledge to help patients successfully overcome administrative hurdles and access services [41,45].…”

“…Goals identified as central to most programs include: coordination of patient care, continuous and proactive patient follow-up, and the use of the navigator's specialized knowledge to help patients successfully overcome administrative hurdles and access services [41,45]. Prior research suggests that navigators can provide high quality evidence-based care, improve efficiency, and improve patient outcomes [42,43,48,49].…”