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Judy Doran of Eliot is a school nurse.
I would like to bring attention to a survey that asked 8,000 school nurses nationally 121 questions about their mental health during COVID. The survey, a collaborative effort between the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Association of School Nurses, was titled “Mental Health of School Nurses in the US during the COVID Pandemic.” Here’s a sampling of the results: 48 percent felt bullied, threatened, or harassed; 30 percent noted post-traumatic stress disorder; 24 percent felt depressed; 22 percent felt anxiety; 39 percent experienced stigma or discrimination; and 24 percent received job-related threats. Almost half (48 percent) reported at least one adverse mental health condition in the two weeks prior to completing the survey in March.
The results are not a surprise to school nurses. The data are sobering, sad and show an urgency for supporting school nurses. We are responsible for other people’s children, all 54 million of them. As you can see for yourself our ranks have suffered.
Additionally, less than 40 percent of our nation’s schools support a full-time nurse, and the higher the number of students living in poverty in any particular district, the more likely the school will not have an RN. We are not in top condition to manage the increasingly complex nature of school health and, in spite of everybody’s strongest wish, COVID is still a presence in schools. School nurses are dealing with it daily, and now with few mitigation strategies, their work is even more invisible. Nurses are still at risk (maybe even more so now) for harassment and threats.
We can see what the problem is, what the fallout is and how we’re feeling. The question is: What are we going to do about it? As a profession, school nurses have some thoughts: We need support, a full-service team, respect for our professional training and a wage that reflects our education, professional experience and decision-making authority. We need a professional ladder of career growth that is designed for school health. We need to be evaluated and supervised by school nurse leaders. We need flexibility in our schedules to participate in school-level health and safety committees. We need subs so we are not running from building to building caring for students we do not know.
Most importantly, we need to be treated with the respect that we extend. The bullying, harassment and threats cannot be tolerated. It is driving seasoned school nurses out of their health offices into early retirement, and is sending new school nurses to seek other work opportunities.
As a society, we have an obligation to support the folks who are caring for our children. We need something urgently and immediately, and this one is easier to do than the systemic changes noted above. To every parent, staff member or administrator who has thanked us and acknowledged our efforts, I say “Thank you!” To those who haven’t thought to, please give your child’s nurse a smile and a thanks. To those who went out of their way to be unkind or threatening, please don’t do that anymore. Maybe try to follow what is proudly displayed in a local school hallway: “In a world when you can be anything just be kind.”
Your school nurses are depending on your kindness and grace while they themselves heal and tend to our children, all 54 million of them.