Nurses Roles in Public Schools - Research Paper Example

? Nurses’ Roles in Public Schools Need for a School Nurse in Public Schools to Educate and Promote African-American Introduction The current school pupils and students form the next elderly, professional, productive, leaders’, advisors’ and parent population of tomorrow. Therefore, there has been the need to nurture them appropriately in educational, social and health aspects of life, keeping in mind numerous factors that may bare them from achieving their best and attaining their dreams. Concerning education and social facilitations, much has been done by the appropriate departments in schools, at home and even in public places to ensure that learners have everything for their self-development in accordance to the laws. However, much of these efforts would go in vain if good health practices were not indulged in the curriculum of educational institutions. Our environment is no longer the same, even compared to that in the 20th century, and so are the human practices. Looking at the current world’s student population, millions of bright brains and inventive individuals are represented. Taking this into account, measures have been set up to ensure that all students are given nothing but the best by the society in which they live and learn. This study will only focus on the need for a school nurse in Public Schools to educate and promote African-American students on health issues that have become rampant in our lives, as will be explicitly discussed in this paper. The main reason of coming up with this study was driven by the fact that in the 21st century the education of a number of children, i.e. African-American students, is compromised by conditions and behavior patterns that undermine their physical and emotional well-being, hence, making learning within the framework of the current system of education quite difficult. Therefore, education policy-makers and teachers have embraced health promotional activities to reach their goal of inspiring students. As a result of this, schools have become both centers of learning and supportive venues for the provision of essential health education and services (UNESCO, 2001). Implementation Strategies To ensure implementation of healthy lifestyle and learning-friendly environment in the institutions, various departments concerned with the management of public schools can take note of the following: i. Initiating healthy public schools’ policy: this would involve making health a major factor to consider within the framework of all policies and legislation of schools because they all influence health in one way or another. ii. Creation of supportive environments: all members of the public schools have responsibility to do their best to create safe surrounding; coming up with safe, satisfying and healthy living and learning conditions; and giving support to health lifestyles. iii. Developing personal skills: supporting individual and learners’ development; and providing necessary information, education and improving life skills. iv. Strengthening students’ action: this would involve empowering the school fraternity, ensuring learners participation, and providing full and easy access to health related information. v. Re-orienting health services: this strategy would broaden the roles of health services from being authoritative and individual-based to shared responsibility and partnership for health, emphasizing on preventive rather than clinical and curative measures. 1. Healthy Lifestyle and Prevention of Diabetes Type 2 Good basic education outcome is only achievable through good health and nutrition as the essential input factors. All learners have to be healthy and well-nourished to be able to effectively participate in the learning process. In support of this initiative, the International agencies, i.e. WHO, UNESCO, World Bank and UNICEF, come up with approaches that would ensure healthy environment for students. FRESH (Focusing Resources on Effective School Health) was a bright example of the strategy already launched by the said organizations. 1.1. Historical Background The strategy of enhancing health and learning skills of school children through school-based health and nutrition programs is a concept that has been practiced for quite a long time. Effective school health programs have contributed significantly to the development of students’ friendly institutions so that to enable education promotion for all. 1.2. Negative Impacts of Type 2 Diabetes Poor lifestyle can generate two different complications: one concerning the educational performances, while another one implying health issues. Poor lifestyle may lead to poor academic performances as a long-term or as a short-term impact. As to health related complication, such a lifestyle may cause the development of various diseases due to malnutrition (e.g. intestinal infections and diabetes). In this section of the study we will discuss the type 2 diabetes. Diabetes is a disease caused by ineffective production or use of insulin (which is needed to move blood sugar into cells for storage and is later used to generate energy) by the human body (American Diabetes Association, 2011). Type 2 diabetes is an indication of poor fat, liver and muscle cells’ response to insulin. This leads to high blood sugar caused by insufficient blood sugar in the cells to produce energy. 1.3. Measures against Type 2 diabetes A type 2 diabetes can be prevented by getting the recommended vaccinations and flu shot each year, as well as by keeping a healthy body weight and having active lifestyle. However, when one is diagnosed with the type 2 diabetes, a change in diet and body exercises is strongly recommended. Besides diet and exercising, one can be put under medication to help lower the blood sugar level. 2. Blood Pressure Monitoring High or low blood pressure (it is also called arterial blood pressure) is a vital medical condition when pressure is exerted by the change in circulating of blood within the walls of the blood vessels. The common symptoms associated with an elevated blood pressure include chest pain/ tightness, excessive sweating, and headache, which do not respond to over-the-counter pain medications. A number of factors have impacts on a person’s average blood pressure, as summarized in the table below. Stage Approximate Age Systolic Diastolic Infants 1 – 12 months 75 – 100 50 - 70 Toddlers 1 – 48 months 80 – 110 50 – 80 Preschoolers 36 – 60 months 80 – 110 50 - 80 School Age 71 – 156 months 85 – 120 50 – 80 Adolescents 156 – 216 moths 95 – 140 60 - 90 2.1. Historical Background Medical research findings have demonstrated that physiological factors, such as diet, exercise, disease, drugs, stress, obesity etc., have bearings on the arterial pressure (Pesola et al., 2001). The physical factors that lead to the change of arterial pressure include: i. Blood volume with the body: higher blood volumes in the body means higher rate of blood that flows back to the heart, resulting into cardiac output. Based on individuals, autonomic nervous system response and rennin-angiotensin system, high dietary salt intake is likely to result into increased blood volume, and thus the high blood pressure. ii. Blood vessel resistance: higher resistance consequently leads to higher arterial pressure upstream from the resistance to blood flow. The vessel radius, vessel length, blood viscosity, and smoothness of the blood vessel walls determine the resistance of blood. iii. Thickness/ viscosity of the blood: thicker blood results into increased arterial pressure. Increased red blood cell concentration increases viscosity. 2.2. Negative Impacts of Blood Pressure High blood pressure has the implication of causing a number of disrupting illnesses, which may develop as a result of its consequence. These illnesses include cardiac disease, hardening of the arteries, eye damage, and stroke as a result of brain damage. Consequences of these to students or pupils may be poor performance, poor health status, or even death if proper care and medical solutions are not taken in time. 2.3. Needs for Healthy Lifestyle Having a medical professional at the Public Schools will therefore be able to determine the conditions of each and every pupil who will be showing signs of illnesses. Besides, such professionals will stand in for every pupil as their primary care physician who will keep records showing their medical history for further use and accurate references. For prevention purposes, precautions of regular/ annual medical checkups are encouraged so as to verify that all students are healthy and can actively partake to their learning process. 3. Type 1 Diabetes (Juvenile Onset) Among the children, i.e. school going pupils, type 1 diabetes is defined as a condition in which children’s pancreases seize to produce the insulin their body requires to survive. Other names for this type of diabetes used to be juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes. 3.1. Historical Background Analysis from the medical records has shown that diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in children is usually overwhelming at the first instances. Despite type 1 diabetes requiring much attention and consistent medical care, advances in blood sugar monitoring and insulin delivery by medics have been enhanced to upgrade the entire management of this type of disease among children. Type 1 diabetes among children have signs and symptoms that include increased thirst and frequent urination as a result of excess fluid pulled off by the body tissues; weight loss, which is caused by shrinking of the muscle tissues and fat stores; fatigue; extreme hunger; irritability; blurred vision; and yeast infection. Its risks’ factors include: exposure to Epstein-Barr virus, mumps or cytomegalovirus; low vitamin D levels as a result of early intake of cows’ milk during the infant stage, and drinking of water containing nitrates. 3.2. Negative Impacts of Type 1 Diabetes This particular type of disease if left undetected for a longer time in a child’s body can possibly affect nearly every major organ in the body, i.e. blood vessels’ diseases, heart diseases, brain problems, nerves damage, eyes damages, foot damage, susceptible skin conditions, osteoporosis and kidneys. However, its (type 1 diabetes) complication can be corrected by keeping the child’s blood sugar level at normal more often. 3.3. Needs for Healthy Lifestyle School nurses and teachers have helped to ensure that students and pupils suffering from the type 1 diabetes are taken note of and their symptoms of high and low blood sugar levels are noted. For further accuracy, the school nurse may while to administer insulin and or counter check the blood sugar levels. In respect to the children, the Federal law has a provision that promptly protects children with diabetes, by making sure that schools take the responsibilities of their accommodations for their proper education. For the victims, their healthy lifestyle will take into account encouragement to increasingly be active in diabetes management; uphold the importance of lifelong diabetes care; be educated on how to individually test their blood sugar and inject insulin; make wise food choices; remain physically active; and always wear a medical identification tag. 4. Roles nurses play in the community schools to assist students monitor their diabetes while at school. The core mandate of the school health nurse would be to ensure that he/ she works in collaboration with the school management team and health care team towards implementing the medical orders that are prescribed within the Diabetes Medical Management Plan, that is a development of the student’s personal diabetes health care staff by use of strategies spelt out. 4.1. Roles The community school nurse may monitor all aspects of any diabetic patient’s care. Such monitoring may involve carrying out routine urinalysis, taking down the results, and studying the outcome so as to determine any abnormalities and hence recommend the best care to the provided. On monitoring, the nurse may as well conduct blood glucose analysis and reports and record the resulting data. Alterations/ changes depicted on the patient’s level of consciousness/ behavior will consequently be taken down a comprehensive medical report drafted. 5. Important role school nurses would play in educating students about healthy dietary habits to decrease childhood obesity rates. The school nurse, in performing her duties, will ensure that the program of educating students on healthy dietary habits is aimed at giving support to the students in developing healthy behaviors; helping them to raise their achievements; helping them to reduce their inequalities and promoting their social induction. 5.1. Roles In every public school, school nurses are charged with the responsibility of addressing chronic illnesses, substance abuse, sexually transmitted diseases, inadequate physical activities and poor dietary habits. 5.2. Decreasing Childhood Obesity In the efforts to make this achievable the school nurse will have to note that: i. Every child or student is reducing/eliminating the intake of refined sugar which is the main reason for obesity. Analysis shows that every sugary drink a child consumes exposes him/her to obesity risk by about 60% ii. All students are always encouraged to take only pure water to quench their thirst. iii. All students are actively involved in the daily exercises. By exercising one is able to stabilize the blood glucose levels, which is an important aspect of diabetes prevention and control technique. Conclusion In conclusion, it is recommended that each and every school should have their own nurses and medical materials to support lives of those within the periphery. Life is valuable and every initiative should be put in place to ensure its safety and security. References American Diabetes Association. (2011). Standards of medical care in diabetes--2011. Diabetes Care, 34 Supple 1:S11-S61. Chief of State School Officers (2006). Assessment tools for school health education: Pre-service and in-service edition, Health Education Assessment Project, and Santa Cruz CA. Davis, J., & Cooke, S. (2007). Educating for a healthy, sustainable world: An argument for integrating health promoting schools and sustainable schools, Health Promotion International, 22(4), pp. 346-53. Joint Committee on National Health Education Standards (2006). National health education standards: Achieving health literacy, American School Health Association, Kent, Ohio. Meeks, L., Heit, P., & Page, R. (2005). Comprehensive school health education: Totally awesome Strategies for teaching health, 5th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York. Pesola G.R., Pesola H.R., Nelson M.J., & Westfal R.E. (2001). The normal difference in bilateral indirect blood pressure recordings in normotensive individuals. American Journal of Emergency Medicine 19 (1): 43–5. Doi: 10.1053/ajem.2001.20021. PMID 11146017. Queensland Government (2006). Health promoting schools toolbox, Department of Health, Brisbane. Hartley, Jo. (2009). How to prevent childhood obesity. Naturalnews.com. 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