Training and empowering school nurses to educate other school staff about asthma

All school personnel must be able to effectively manage student asthma if a crisis arises and a nurse is not immediately available. With this in mind, The Starlight Asthma Tool Kit for Schools was created as a resource for nurses to use when educating others about asthma. The Tool Kit contains handouts with easy to use, targeted asthma information geared for a range of health and non-health school personnel. There is also a section for parents. Most of the handouts are low-literacy, and some are available in Spanish. To encourage use, California Breathing developed an intensive day long training to be given throughout California. In 2007, over 300 school personnel, predominantly nurses, were trained on how to use the Tool Kit to effectively educate school staff members about asthma and how to manage student asthma. To gauge the impact of the trainings, participants were sent follow-up surveys at three months and one year to determine if they met their self-identified goals for using the Tool Kit in their schools and districts.

The presenter will give an overview of the well received training program. Additionally, the presenter will familiarize participants with the tool kit and make it available as a resource. Participants will learn about the teaching strategies used during the trainings, the incentives offered, and what follow-up evaluations indicate about the utility of the training in encouraging on-going use of the Tool Kit in the school setting. The Tool Kit and training are based on the CDC's coordinated school health.