Measurable School Nursing Outcomes

With the anniversary of 10 years with No Child Left Behind, educators continue to look at how school programs can be accountable and help our Nation's children achieve their full potential. Although the emphasis has been on academic programs, the focus is also encompassing support services such as school health services. This presentation will discuss the research efforts to identify and measure the impact of school health services, both short- and long-term outcomes. First, the final results of a Delphi study that identified school nurse sensitive outcomes will be discussed, and current efforts to collect data to determine how sensitive these outcomes are in measuring the impact of school health services. Second, two different existing databases (school injuries and school obesity rates) will be used to illustrate how currently collected data can be used to measure the impact of school health services and how these databases can be used for quality improvement activities. Finally, barriers identified when using outcomes such as rates of absenteeism or high school drop out rates to measure the impact of school health services. With an increase in the number of students with chronic conditions and changes in the health care reform, understanding how to measure the impact of school health services is critical in furthering public health.