Training outcomes from preparing a school nurse workforce for all hazards

The University of Pittsburgh Center for Public Health Preparedness (UPCPHP) launched its school preparedness program in 2005. It is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A major component of the program provides all-hazards disaster preparedness training to Pennsylvania school nurses in K-12 schools, using a standardized national curriculum. The school nurses evaluate every training using a standardized tool developed by UPCPHP. The tool is primarily a retrospective self-report of pre/post-training ability on 17 items. By the end of the 2007-2008 program year, data will have been collected from an estimated 850 school nurse participants at 19 trainings across Pennsylvania. Trends in evaluation data will be presented and interpreted in the context of increased attention to pediatric and school preparedness. Data will show the topics of the curriculum with the greatest change in learner's knowledge and confidence. The data will be contrasted with learners' suggestions for improvements to the course. Support for development of a national curriculum on triage for school nurses will be provided. Learners' suggestions for additional preparedness-related topics will be analyzed to inform future curricula development for school nurses and personnel. Specifically, trends will be contextualized with state preparedness activities and mandates for K-12 schools, and compared to additional evaluation data over the three years of UPCPHP's school preparedness efforts. Given the new milieu of K-12 schools, next steps for training school personnel in all-hazards emergency preparedness and planning will be discussed, using UPCPHP's school preparedness program as a model.