Online Program

336484
School nurse sensitive indicators: A Delphi Study


Tuesday, November 3, 2015 : 2:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.

Martha Bergren, DNS, RN, NCSN, APHN, FNASN, FASHA, FAAN, Health Systems Science, University of Illinois College of Nursing, Chicago, IL
Erin Maughan, PhD, MS, RN, APHN-BC, FAAN, National Association of School Nurses, Silver Spring, MD
Background/Significance: Acute care nurse leaders have identified structure, process, and outcome indicators to measure care. Population health nurses must also identify indicators. For this study, a literature review was conducted and school nurse leader focus groups were convened, yielding 58 potential indicators. The Delphi technique was used to narrow the list to those that were measurable, retrievable, and sensitive to school nursing quality and intensity. Methods: Sixty-two school nurses with diverse experience, education, geography, and workloads were selected for an expert panel. They rated the 58 indicators on importance, usability, feasibility using an online instrument. Three rounds were conducted.  Scores were tallied after each round and the lowest scoring indicators were eliminated.  In Round Three, stakeholders from education and health were also enlisted to provide input. Results: After Round One, the 31 lowest rated indicators were eliminated.  After Round Two, the difference between scores was negligible and only two indicators were removed.  The remaining items were divided into health indicators and education indicators.  The expert panel and the education and health stakeholders ranked the top 4 health indicators and top 3 education indicators, resulting in six indicators, health office visits, medication error, immunization, early school dismissal, attendance, and seat time. Conclusions and Implications for Practice: Identifying indicators is a critical step forward for school nursing. Secondary analysis is being conducted to measure the influence of school nurse quality and intensity on child health and education outcomes. Discussion will address challenges, successes and implications for measuring nursing in population health settings.

Learning Areas:

Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related nursing
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Describe the process of selecting sensitive nursing indicators using a Delphi technique

Keyword(s): School-Based Health, Public Health Research

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I was the co-investigator of the study. I have scholarship in school nursing, informatics and in outcome measurement spanning 23 years evidenced by an established record of research, peer reviewed publications and national peer reviewed presentations on school nurse indicators. I served on the National Quality Forum Child Health Outcomes Steering Committee, the National Association of School Nurses Research Advisory Committee, Informatics Advisory Committee and the NASN/NASSNC School Nursing Core Data Set Steering Committee.
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.