School nurses are an integral part of access to education and work to reduce and eliminate health-related barriers to the education process for students. They promote health and safety, intervene with actual and potential health problems, provide case management services, and coordinate communication with families, appropriate school staff and the medical home or private healthcare provider.

School Nursing services include, but are not limited to:

• Individual health care needs assessments for students
• Health care plan development, revision and evaluation including Emergency Action Plans, Individual Health Care Plans and health-related components of Individual Education Programs
• Direct provision of nursing health care services
• School staff instruction and supervision in provision of care for students with special health care needs
• Instruction and oversight for medication administration processes in schools
• Emergency and injury care, planning and training
• Communicable disease control and outbreak response in schools
• Assessment of school community health and safety issues
• Student screening for conditions that impact access to education, such as vision screening
• Member and resource for student assistance teams that develop health-related student accommodations
• Health-related community resource liaison for schools

School Nurse related questions may be directed to:

Ann Nichols, MSN, RN, NCSN
State School Health Nurse Consultant
N C Division of Public Health
919-218-7010

Annual School Health Services Reports

NC School Nursing Support Web Page

NC School Health Program Manual