WHITE PAPER REPORT TO GUILFORD COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
From
Guilford County Project One
A volunteer community based initiative
regarding
GUILFORD COUNTY SCHOOL NURSES
GUILFORD COUNTY
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December 2017
Table of Contents
Project ONE: Who we are, how we formed, webpage 03
Problem Statement: How we see the issue 03
The Value of One Professional Nurse for Every School 04
The Responsibilities of a School Nurse 07
How Nurses Support the Goals of the North Carolina State Board of Education 08
Old and New Ways to Determine Nurse Workforce 09
School-Based tele-health – an option for the future 10
Guilford County School Nurses by the Numbers 11
New Positions for 2017-18 12
Getting it Done: The Cost to Hire One Nurse in Every School 13
Conclusion 14
List of Works Cited 15
Information and recommendations referenced in this report are in no way to be understood as reflecting the positions or suggestions of the Guilford County Department of Public Health (GCDPH), or the Guilford County Schools (GCS). The ideas that follow belong wholly to the Project ONE team. Five statements reflecting consensus opinions of Project ONE are inserted in italics throughout the text and at the end as Attachment I.
Robin Lane, RN, PNP, MPH, with assistance from Project ONE intern, Amy Shadron, RN, BSN, a Master’s candidate in the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, is the principal author of this white paper. Members of the Project ONE team created the Fact Sheets which became the foundation of this report. We are especially grateful to Jean Regan, RN, BSN for her work on our Fact Sheets.
NOTE: Use of the word “nurse” in this report, unless otherwise stated, should be understood to refer to a Registered Nurse (RN). The term “school nurse” in the report always refers to a RN who typically has a Bachelor’s degree with or without certification earned according to national standards.
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Introduction – Project ONE
Project ONE is the name given to the collaborative work of community volunteers. Its purpose is to educate Guilford County about the role of the registered professional school nurse (RN) and the need for at least one full time RN in every school.
The Project ONE team began meeting in the spring of 2016 following a presentation to the Guilford County Health and Human Service Advisory Committee (Advisory Committee) by staff of the Guilford County Department of Public Health (GCDPH), the agency in charge of school health nursing in Guilford County. The original Project ONE team was made up of volunteers from the Advisory Committee. As the group determined a need for broader community participation, additional members came on board. For a list of current members of the Project ONE team, please visit the webpage at www.guilfordcountyprojectONE.com.
This document is a compilation of the information gathered by the Project ONE team in their first eighteen months of study. A series of Fact Sheets and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) as well as a list of scholarly articles and news stories, are available on the webpage.