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NASXXX10.1177/1942602X14537201NASN School NurseNASN School Nurse

Feature Article

NASN Connecting With Nurses Every Day Donna Mazyck, MS, BSN, RN, NCSN Sharon Conley, BA Margaret Cellucci, BA

NASN, with a newly adopted strategic plan, is energized, committed, and positioned to be the connecting point for all things concerning school health. The July issue of the NASN School Nurse is utilized to provide an update to our membership on the health of our organization and the past year’s major initiatives. The 2014-2017 strategic plan has five areas of emphasis: membership, advocacy, financial stability, research, and governance. The purpose of this article is to discuss NASN’s member resources and connections and how they can be utilized to strengthen and mold school nursing practice. Keywords: social media; community of practice; advocacy; membership

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s NASN President Carolyn Duff attests in her opening letter of this journal, the NASN board of directors has worked strategically and intentionally over the past 12 months on behalf of school nurses. After the NASN board adoption of a new strategic plan, the NASN staff immediately stepped up to develop an implementation plan. All staff

members work on one or more assigned staff teams that mirror the five NASN strategic priorities: membership, advocacy, financial stability, governance, and research. In 2014, the NASN board and staff connect with school nurses every day. This article focuses on the first three strategic priorities: membership, financial stability, and advocacy. After the NASN board adoption of a new strategic plan, the NASN staff immediately stepped up to develop an implementation plan. All staff members work on one or more assigned staff teams that mirror the five NASN strategic priorities: membership, advocacy, financial stability, governance, and research.

Membership Engagement: NASN Connecting School Nurses The 2013 NASN School Nurse Survey provided updated information on the services utilized and desired by school nurses. With the survey being open to

all school nurses (not limited to NASN members), responses more than doubled and included school nurses from all 50 states, U.S. territories, and Department of Defense schools as well as international school nurses (Maughan & Mangena, 2014). The survey revealed that school nurses were more likely to utilize NASN publications than the website, NASN radio, and podcasts. The same survey also revealed that 40.8% of school nurses plan to retire in 5 years, while another 35.3% will retire in 10 years, likely to result in an influx of younger nurses (Maughan & Mangena, 2014). While maintaining our hard copy publications, NASN continues to explore utilizing technology to increase school nurse connections. In 1994, Martha Bergren pioneered a discussion list for school nurse professionals. This discussion list carried the name SCHLRN-L, providing a forum for national and international school nurses to communicate. Today, the 20-year-old SCHLRN-L thrives with almost 1,000 subscribers on the NASN SchoolNurseNet and is one of the oldest discussion lists dedicated to nursing professionals.

DOI: 10.1177/1942602X14537201 For reprints and permission queries visit SAGE’s Web site, http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav. Downloaded from nas.sagepub.com at QUEENS UNIV LIBRARIES on March 8, 2015 © 2014 The Author(s)

July 2014  |  NASN School Nurse   179

In 2013, NASN launched an updated web-based platform for school nurses to connect with one another: SchoolNurseNet. Peer-to-peer learning by professionals can be facilitated by communities of practice. “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly” (Wenger, 2011). The number of communities on SchoolNurseNet and the numbers of messages among school nurses connecting in those communities grow weekly. Connecting on SchoolNurseNet begins with the NASN home page. The icon is on the left side of the home page. To learn how to connect to SchoolNurseNet, scan this code for a video short on logging into SchoolNurseNet.

Connecting with members in their favorite spaces Build Friendships

Share Ideas

Browse Resources

Blogs feature content from the experts AND the experienced

the professional and private information-sharing and collaboration site for school nurses

4,472 Connections Made

7,648 Library Entries

18,729 Discussion Messages

we've made finding content easy by tagging resources and providing a robust search tool "It's important to me to stay connected with my colleagues. I am geographically isolated from you all, but with [SchoolNurseNet] I can stay professionally connected." ~ Lori Schneider, a quote from a discussion post on 02/13/2014.

The figure, connecting with members in their favorite spaces, provides highlights of the usage and features of NASN’s efforts to utilize technology to connect members. NASN also connects school nurses through social media. Social media fosters professional connections, education, and reflective practice opportunities for school nurses (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, 2011). Resources exist that help nurses navigate social media to advance their practice and protect patient confidentiality (American Nurses Association, 2011). From Facebook to Twitter; from LinkedIn groups to Pinterest, NASN enables school nurses to connect immediately with each other and other groups. NASN also participates in Twitter chats that support partner initiatives, expanding the reach of the message.

As a not-for-profit, we have a commitment to members and the community to return as much as possible to direct services, products, and programs. NASN is not immune to the broad economic problems facing federal, state, district, and family budgets. As we move forward, we seek a new business model that will support the vision, mission, and work of NASN. A detailed report is available on our home page, “About NASN” tab, or at the following link: http://www.nasn.org/ portals/0/about/2012_2013_ AnnualReport.pdf.

Financial Stability

Advocacy

Regarding the health of our organization, NASN continues to grow. NASN has three major areas of expense.

NASN advocates for students to be healthy, safe, and ready to learn. The 2013 NASN School Nurse Survey found that

180  NASN School Nurse | July 2014

4,646 LIKES Average views on status posts: 672

3,366 FOLLOWERS

10 VIDEOS

799 FOLLOWERS

Tweets since inception: 3,238

Total views: 3,974

Group members: 1,605

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“only 48% of school nurses met or exceeded the national recommendations of one school nurse for every 750 students” (Maughan & Mangena, 2014, p. 82). The survey also revealed that school nurses would like to be doing more prevention activities, that they have increasing educational needs to effectively manage their student populations, that nearly half have assisted a student or parent with enrollment in Medicaid or a state health insurance program, and that as health care and education reform continues, school nurses are seeing added pressures to their responsibilities. NASN keeps abreast of pending legislation of relevance to student health and school nursing. All of this information guides in the development of an annual focus for advocacy. Three priorities have been

established for the current legislative session. NASN Legislative Priorities for 2014 1. With pending legislation in both houses of Congress (H.R. 3532 and S. 1546) concerning the protection of student athletes from concussions, NASN requests that the bills reflect the many essential aspects in school nurse involvement in addressing concussions. As the school-based clinical professional on the team of stakeholders, the school nurse has the knowledge and skills to provide concussion prevention education to parents, students, and staff; identify suspected concussions; and help guide the student’s postconcussion graduated academic and activity re-entry process. Members of Congress are urged to enact comprehensive concussion legislation with appropriate inclusion of school nurses in health care definitions and stakeholder teams. 2. As Congress continues to work on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), NASN requests the inclusion of specialized instructional support personnel (SISP) throughout legislative language. As essential members of SISP, school nurses are serving as a critical link to school success for many students. Now that both the House (H.R. 5) and Senate (S. 1094) have reauthorization bills, it is imperative that the more inclusive Senate language in the Strengthening America’s Schools Act be reflected in the final version of ESEA legislation. Members of Congress are urged to enact comprehensive legislation, which includes SISP and the importance of prevention and intervention services for students. 3. The Student-to-School Nurse Ratio Improvement Act of 2013 was reintroduced in the House on May 7, 2013. The act would create a pilot demonstration grant program allowing

federal assistance for local educational agencies most in need of improving their ratio. All students should be able to have their health needs safely met while in the school setting. The current reality is that although students today have greater medical needs than in past generations, caseload assignments for nurses vary greatly throughout the United States and within states. NASN is asking members of the House of Representatives to become co-sponsors of Representative Carolyn McCarthy’s (D-NY-4) House bill (H.R. 1857). A Senate bill has not yet been introduced during the 113th Congress. Senate members are asked to consider being an original co-sponsor of a companion bill. Member support of this critical piece of legislation will work toward ensuring that needed evidence of the positive impact of improving ratios will be demonstrated.

http://wenger-trayner.com/wp-content/ uploads/2012/01/06-Brief-introduction-tocommunities-of-practice.pdf

Donna Mazyck, MS, BSN, RN, NCSN Executive Director National Association of School Nurses Silver Spring, MD Donna has served as the NASN executive director since October 2011. Previously, she worked as a school nurse and a state school nurse consultant. She is a former NASN president.

Conclusion NASN is committed to being your connecting place. Our hope is to assist every member in making connections—connections to continuing education, connections to clinical guidelines, connections to advocacy materials, connections to resources for your practice, connections to ongoing research, and connections to other school nurses with similar practices. As we commit to expanding your member benefits, we encourage you to commit to trying one new member resource.

References American Nurses Association. (2011). Social networking toolkit. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/ socialnetworkingtoolkit.aspx Maughan, E., & Mangena, A. (2014). The 2013 NASN school nurse survey. NASN School Nurse, 29(2), 76-83. National Council of State Boards of Nursing. (2011). White paper: A nurse’s guide to the use of social media. Chicago, IL: Author. Wenger, E. (2011). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Retrieved from

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Margaret Cellucci, BA Director of Communications National Association of School Nurses Silver Spring, MD Margaret is the director of communications for NASN. Previously, she was a communications specialist for the Maryland State Department of Education, where she was the speech writer for the State Superintendent of Schools as well as responsible for media outreach and publication editing and design. Margaret also has experience in a health-related field, as she was the manager of communications for the Maryland Organ and Tissue Procurement Organization. She received her bachelor of arts degree from Kansas State University. Sharon Conley, BA Director of Web-Based Technology National Association of School Nurses Silver Spring, MD Sharon is the director of web-based technology responsible for assessing the technology needs of NASN, identifying and recommending appropriate solutions, implementing and configuring systems acquired, and providing technology training to staff and volunteer leadership. Sharon has worked at NASN since 1997. She has a bachelor of arts degree in media studies from the University of Southern Maine.

July 2014  |  NASN School Nurse   181

NASN connecting with nurses every day.

NASN, with a newly adopted strategic plan, is energized, committed, and positioned to be the connecting point for all things concerning school health...
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