142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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Regional differences in school health services for children with special health care needs in California

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Heather Knauer, MSPH , School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Dian Baker, PhD, APRN-BC, PNP, PHN , School of Nursing, California State University Sacramento, Sacramento, CA
Kathleen Hebbeler, PhD , Center for Education and Human Services, Education Division, SRI International, Menlo Park, CA
Linda Davis-Alldritt, RN, MA, PHN , California School Nurses Organization, Sacramento, CA
Children with special health care needs (CSHCN) require health services during the school day to support their health and learning, however little is known about how well schools address children’s health needs. The purpose of this study is to examine regional differences in access to school health services in California.

A cross-sectional survey was administered to 989 practicing school nurses in California (52.4% response rate). The survey consisted of demographic, occupational, and school health questions. To supplement the survey analysis, school enrollment and school nurse employment data from the California Basic Education Dataset for the 2011-12 school year was analyzed.

Less than half of school districts in California have a school nurse (43%), and in districts with school nurses, services vary widely across the state and from year to year. School nurse to student ratios range from 1:829 to as high as 1:13,383. Rural and urban school nurses face different challenges in their scope of work, and in providing health services to CSHCN. However, both report an alarming lack of confidence in their ability to serve the needs of CSHCN in schools, and a need for greater employment of school nurses and support for school health services.

The availability of school nurses to provide health services varies widely across the state, and even within school districts. School districts lacking a nurse cannot capture reimbursements for nursing services that are performed by unlicensed personnel. Consequently, families cannot count on having consistent, effective school health services from one school site to another.

Learning Areas:

Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Administration, management, leadership
Advocacy for health and health education
Chronic disease management and prevention
Public health or related nursing
Public health or related organizational policy, standards, or other guidelines

Learning Objectives:
Identify regional differences in school health services for children with special health care needs in California

Keyword(s): Special Needs, Nurses/Nursing

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have an MSPH in Population, Family and Reproductive Health from Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. I am currently a PhD student in Health Services Research and Policy Analysis at the University of California, Berkeley. I am working with Dr. Dian Baker on a project funded by the Lucille Packard Foundation examining school health services for children with special health care needs in California.I conducted the analyses presented in this abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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